Fractured Time
by Tiro
Summary: Continuation of Birth of a Nightmare Man chapter thirteen, where we left Rabastan and Draco wondering about Harry Potter's fate. But now time has become a strange thing, and their world is dying. How can they escape? Will they ever see Harry Potter again?
1. Chapter 1

**Fractured Time**

 **Summary** : Continuation of Birth of a Nightmare Man chapter thirteen, where we left Rabastan and Draco wondering about Harry Potter's fate. But now time has become a strange thing, and their world is dying. How can they escape? Will they ever see Harry Potter again?

 **Pairing/s** : None.

 **Warnings** : Time-travelling and dimension-travelling, some violence and gore. People acting OOC.

 **Disclaimers** : I don't own Harry Potter nor do I make any money on fanfiction.

-o-

Time to see what happens in the world the Nightmare Lord left behind!

-o-

 **Chapter One**

 **From** _ **Birth of a Nightmare Man,**_ **chapter thirteen:**

 _Inside the Ministry, the air rumbled. Somewhere, people heard a distant scream. It echoed around them. Pressed against a wall, now forgotten, Rabastan and Draco looked at each other. They heard people run around, people searching for the person behind that scream._

" _That was Potter just now, wasn't it?" Draco said._

-o-

The walls didn't stop shaking against their backs. The ground didn't stop trembling. It just got worse. As Rabastan and Draco looked, cracks appeared in the marble floor. Small stones bounced up in the air by the force somewhere beneath them.

Rabastan grabbed Draco's arm and said:

"Best chance for us to slip out without being noticed."

"But what about Potter?" Draco said. "We need to find him!"

"He told me to get you out," Rabastan replied. "By any means necessary. If that means knocking you out, I will knock you out."

Besides, that scream… this shaking. It wasn't good.

"But he…" Draco looked lost.

To think they both hated Harry Potter at one point. Hated him for years and years, Rabastan longer than Malfoy. Now Rabastan would like to go find the boy himself. Find that crazy boy, and haul him and Malfoy both out of there. But he had to get Malfoy out first.

"If he got caught, we'll get him out," Rabastan told him. "But now we need to move, or we'll never hear the end of it from him if we manage to get caught in this perfect chaos."

Draco nodded at last, and they began to move. The floor was difficult to navigate due to its shaking, and they heard people running away. Twists and turns didn't bring them to a safe point though, and Rabastan just barely managed to pull Draco behind some curtains in a shadowed corner before Amelia Bones showed up with several Aurors.

Another one, a young Auror at that, ran up to her and said:

"Minister, Potter—"

"Did you get him?" Amelia interrupted.

"No, Minister. But we found the room he was in last. The one with the time-turners."

"He used one?" she demanded to know.

"No, he didn't. It's… there are cracks."

"Yes, the whole place is shaking to pieces!" she said.

"No, Minister, not just in the walls, there are cracks in the air!" the Auror said. "The time-turners have all shattered. Potter's nowhere to be found."

"Show me."

"It's too dangerous, one of the Unspeakables approached the cracks, and he vanished."

"Vanished?" Amelia repeated.

Rabastan held his breath. Vanished? Into thin air? What was this about cracks, _in the air_? Of all the magic he had seen and heard about, that was new.

"His body, his magical signature, everything! It's as if he was never there."

Whatever had happened, they needed to get out. Rabastan sent a faint prayer that Potter had made it out alright, and pulled Draco back into the shadows to find another way out.

By the time they got to London, they noticed the trembling in the streets. Whatever magic had been unleashed, it wasn't disappearing quietly. Muggles stuck to each other, looking around. Rabastan pulled Draco behind him, avoiding bigger streets and searching for a place where they could safely begin to Apparate back to Malfoy manor.

"What's going on?" Draco wondered at last.

"I have no idea," Rabastan admitted.

-o-

Even for the Malfoys and Rabastan, who were in hiding, the news came quickly; five days after the Unspeakable had vanished, he showed up again. But to him, only a moment had passed. By that point, rumours spread that more cracks had appeared, and at least four Aurors and other Ministry personnel had disappeared into them. As if the cracks acted like time-turners.

But not everyone showed up again, and the cracks spread. Splintering the air, they moved across the Ministry levels, and eventually came to London itself. It caused a panic with the Muggle population when an entire busload of people disappeared, shortly followed by three cars and several pedestrians. Unlike wizards and witches, the Muggles appeared to be unable to see the cracks in the air.

Draco wanted to have a look.

"And you're just going to let him?" Narcissa asked Rabastan.

"I'm gonna be there so he doesn't do anything stupid, like trying to touch it," Rabastan replied. "I got him out of the Ministry when everyone was looking for us; I'm not going to let him disappear into a bloody _crack_ in the air."

They went to London, under disguise, and saw the cracks for themselves. Draco stopped, and stared. Rabastan didn't blame him, since he was basically doing the same thing.

It was a road. In the middle of the road, the air splintered into several shards of reality. The cracks were slightly opened, and oozed time and power. There was the sensation in the air of something pulsating around them the closer they got, and the cracks were glowing slightly.

It felt wrong. Raw. Rabastan rubbed his arms, shrugged his shoulders but couldn't shift the strange air that had settled around him. He wanted to look away. He couldn't look away.

A Muggle girl ran over the road. She came close to a crack. It surged, and her scream was cut short as she was pulled into one of the cracks… and she was _gone_. Just gone. The sound of glass cracking, and the air splintered itself some more.

"That's just wrong," Draco breathed out. "What the hell happened down there?"

Rabastan knew about the Time Room at the Ministry, he hated that room, but the Ministry must have had another room since the Time Room had been destroyed. One with only time-turners? Was their destruction the explanation to this?

"What I want to know," he said instead of trying to explain or speculate, "is where the hell Potter went."

"Maybe you ought to ask _when_ ," Draco realized.

 _Oh, shit_.

Once the cracks moved into London, the Ministry was overrun with them. The location of the entire Ministry was moved, while a small group remained to try and stop the cracks. It became apparent soon enough that they weren't successful.

"Figures Potter can put the magical world into chaos without even being here," Rabastan mused one day.

Potter hadn't returned to the house, and while Rabastan lived with the Malfoys he went back there just to check. He wondered if Potter truly had gotten pulled into one of the cracks of time. If that was the case, he could be anywhere, at any time.

People still feared him, and the Dementors. But that was another thing Rabastan had noticed. They had all left shortly after Potter vanished. He had tried to ask, as they floated past him, from the house to… somewhere. Only one had given him some sort of clue.

They couldn't speak a language Rabastan understood. But Potter had had the strange notion of teaching them to write. So one Dementor had written something to Rabastan, when he asked where they were going.

 _Home_. That was the only clue, and it really didn't help in the end. Where was home for them? Was it Potter? How would they know where to go?

All Rabastan knew was that they had vanished, to wherever they seemed to believe home was.

And during all of this, the cracks of time continued to shatter the world.

-o-

London was abandoned within months, by both magical people as well as Muggles. They fled, however they could, from a city that was slowly cracking, shattering into thousands of potential places in time and space.

How far would the shattering of reality go? Was there no way to stop it? And where had Harry Potter ended up?

 _To be continued…_

* * *

A short introduction to what reality Harry Potter, our dear Nightmare Lord, left behind.

Chapter two: Years pass, and Rabastan feels like a certain action must be taken, before it's too late.

See you later,

Tiro


	2. Chapter 2

**Fractured Time**

 **Summary** : Continuation of Birth of a Nightmare Man chapter thirteen, where we left Rabastan and Draco wondering about Harry Potter's fate. But now time has become a strange thing, and their world is dying. How can they escape? Will they ever see Harry Potter again?

 **Pairing/s** : None.

 **Warnings** : Time-travelling and dimension-travelling, some violence and gore. People acting OOC.

 **Disclaimers** : I don't own Harry Potter nor do I make any money on fanfiction.

-o-

I know, two chapters in one go but I wanted to release _Fractured Time_ and _The Nightmare Man's Journey_ at the same time which required two chapters of _Fractured Time_ in my opinion.

 _Fractured Time_ takes place around five years before _The Nightmare Man's Journey._

Enjoy!

-o-

 **Chapter Two**

Three years down the line, and Rabastan felt at times the need to curse Harry Potter. Or at least yell at him a little bit, or just… find him. That crazy kid that had gone from hero to tragic hero to revenge-mad to enemy of those he once protected to… gone. Just gone.

Rabastan didn't know how Potter's head worked, but he wouldn't stay away for three years without letting them know he was alright. So he wasn't somewhere where he could contact them. At this point Rabastan knew he must have been dragged into a crack of time.

London was nowadays a dangerous place to live, and mostly abandoned. The same went for the surrounding cities and towns and villages. No Muggles remained there. There was uproar throughout the Muggle world about the disappearances. Last Rabastan heard, the British Ministry of Magic was having trouble with other magical communities due to the cracks of time.

Especially when the cracks began to move across the sea, and come closer to other countries.

Never before had time-turners been researched so hard. How the shattering of a room with time-turners could create the break of reality. Could create thousands of paths of time. Was it because they shattered at the same time? Had Potter, suspected to be in the room, done a spell that somehow helped? Had it been something else in the room?

Now Rabastan was no expert on time-turners, but even a fool would see the cracks of time were not a good thing. They didn't stop, or really slow down. Would they one day be spread across the entire world?

The Malfoy Manor was still safe, but not for much longer. Both the cracks of time was coming closer, and Lucius had heard Amelia Bones, still the Minister, was close to finding the manor. So they did what only the desperate did, and went to London.

-o-

Rabastan tugged at the rope secured around his waist. It looked ridiculous; he and the three Malfoy members with ropes connecting them but it had already saved Lucius once from being sucked into a crack. They had agreed to it; either they saved the one being pulled through, or all four were pulled through the same crack.

Narcissa was behind Rabastan, then Draco, with Lucius bringing up the rear. For now they remained close to each other as Rabastan slowly led the way down a London street. The cracks glimmered in the afternoon sun. Their steps were the only sounds on the sidewalk. He trailed his hand over a wall, as if it would help him if anyone of them were sucked towards a crack.

In a way, the shattering of reality was beautiful in its destruction of their world. The power was still there, pulsating around them, glowing lights coming from some of the cracks. Others appeared… dormant?

He stopped near one.

"I want to try something," he said. "Hold onto something, hard."

All three Malfoys took out their wands and magic swirled in the air as they made sure they were stuck to the wall while Rabastan took a step closer to the crack. He inhaled, and reached out a hand. He expected a surge, a pressure and something pulling him closer.

Power cracked along his fingers as he touched the crack, but it appeared close.

"Nothing?" Narcissa said.

"No surge," Rabastan said. "It's closed."

He glanced around. Over half of the cracks he could see had no glowing light, like the one he was touching. Were they closed? Could they be closed?

"Fascinating," he said despite himself. "How come no one knows this?"

"Who in their right mind would go near a crack of time?" Draco asked.

"Good thing I'm not particularly sane then," Rabastan said. "Let's find a house."

"What is your plan?" Lucius said as they sought after a house untouched by the cracks of time. "You said you wanted to go to London, Rabastan."

"It might not be possible now, if the cracks can close but… I wanted to try and find if Potter went through one."

"How are we supposed to find that out?" Narcissa asked. "Besides, we've already established he must have. What use is it going here?"

"You're asking a madman for logical reasons? Surely you jest, Narcissa." Rabastan turned to them. "What else can we do?"

Not much. They were hunted. Unwanted by everyone but the British Ministry, and the British Ministry wanted nothing more than to punish them. Narcissa looked over at Lucius, then at Draco. It probably wasn't the life she had pictured for her beloved son.

"There is nothing else we can do," Lucius said. "With any luck, we'll get pulled into a crack of time that has a world that isn't going under. That's the best we can hope for."

Rabastan knew finding the same time Potter was most likely pulled into was slim to none, but he wanted to try. He was mad, so why not do mad things?

-o-

They found a townhouse at last, and dared to untie the ropes. But only inside the house. Narcissa inspected the rooms, clearly not liking them but few houses could compare to Malfoy Manor in its splendour.

Draco himself seemed less concerned, freeing the sitting room from dust and cobwebs before sitting down on the couch. His face was haggard, yet tense. Older than his years. Everyone seemed older than their years.

"Do you really think we can find him?" Draco asked Rabastan.

"No," Rabastan confessed. "Yet I still have a fool's hope that we will. He'll probably be very pleased with the chaos he left behind."

"Probably? You mean definitely. Who knew such madness could exist in Harry Potter, the saviour?" Draco looked down at his robes, well-worn and a little dusty from his cleaning earlier. "I never thought he could ever change. He was so… _good_ , it was sickening."

"He would have remained neutral, if George Weasley hadn't died," Rabastan said. "Perhaps he would have even forgiven his friends, if that man hadn't died."

"Potter always did forgive so easily."

Rabastan was surprised at how much he missed Potter. He hadn't known the young man that long, and now all he wanted was to see him again. Make sure he was alright.

But they had to survive first. Get their strength back and then…

Then venture into a Ministry no one had touched in well over two years.

-o-

Lucius strengthened the ropes for the final time just before they entered the Ministry.

"Will you stop being paranoid?" Rabastan asked him. "That's usually my job."

"Well, I don't want one of us ending up alone somewhere," Lucius said through gritted teeth.

They made it down, and passed a short hall before entering the atrium. It was a shattered version of itself. Many of the cracks were dark, and they felt no pull from them. But a few glowed, and as they watched one crack appeared near the ceiling and began to glow.

"New ones form even here?" Narcissa said. "Oh dear."

"Oh dear, indeed," Lucius said.

As they walked, their footsteps bounced off the walls. Some of the rooms Rabastan glanced into were completely distorted, to the point even furniture had splintered. They moved slowly forward, staying as far away as possible from the cracks that glowed.

But they hadn't gotten to the end of the atrium before they heard a voice they most certainly hadn't expected to hear:

"Malfoy!"

Amelia Bones, and when they turned around they saw she wasn't alone. She was far, far from alone.

"How did so many of them make it this far?" Narcissa asked.

"I think it's best if we fasten the pace just a tad, and not wonder too much about that part," Lucius said as he ushered both Narcissa and Draco behind him while pulling his wand out.

This time it was Rabastan first, then Draco, then Narcissa and with Lucius last. He insisted on being last every time, as that meant if they were attacked from behind he would be able to protect his wife and son with his body, if it came down to it.

"You're not getting out of here!" Bones continued.

"Oh, and you are certain of this, Minister?" Lucius said.

"Where's Potter?" she wanted to know.

"No clue, I'm afraid. He didn't leave a message behind."

"You think we'll fall for that?" someone else shouted.

"Get them!"

One tried. He was sucked into a crack, tried to fight back and it ended with one of his legs falling to the floor with a wet splat.

"Alright, time to run," Rabastan decided.

They ran, even as they heard Bones and her rather large group of people began to move. A few spells came towards them, but were pulled into the cracks or even bounced back, as if some of the space between the cracks served as a wall.

The hallways were shattered, but they managed to get through most of them. Sometimes they had to crawl along the floor, or stick to the ceiling, but they made it further into the Ministry's destroyed halls.

As they weren't focusing on finding Potter's magic, they didn't expect it when it came. It came like a wave. It sang, and was more powerful than they remembered. The magic also felt old, yet painfully alive.

"This way!" Narcissa said and darted past two cracks into a different, darker hallway.

They followed, holding onto the rope keeping them all connected.

"Did you feel that?" they heard someone call. "Was that Potter?"

"He's here!" Bones shouted. "Track him!"

Lucius threw a few spells over his shoulders, rudimentary traps at best, but at least it would hold Bones' group up a little bit.

Potter's magic was pulsating, coming crashing towards them like waves. Powerful, and then receding. Rabastan's heart was nearly in his throat; what if it died out before they reached wherever the hell it came from? What if this venture was fruitless and all that would happen was death or being pulled into a crack into Merlin knows where?

But no, there! He could practically see the crack glowing, the air around it shattering into countless other, but tiny cracks. He pulled at the rope and called out:

"Here!"

The Malfoys followed, but so did Bones' entire group. How did they not get sucked in? Rabastan dodged a crack, was pulled back from another by Draco, and reached it. Potter's magic was already disappearing, and he reached out when Narcissa screamed:

"Lucius!"

Rabastan felt his arm being tugged at, and turned only to see Lucius being pulled into another crack. The rope quickly stretched between them, pulling tighter, as the group of four was pulled into two different cracks of time.

Rabastan didn't know how this would end. Lucius was already halfway through the crack, Narcissa holding onto him and Bones' group coming closer.

"Mother! Father!" Draco couldn't reach them, stretched too close to Rabastan.

Rabastan didn't hear the Malfoy couple speak. Those two didn't always need to speak out loud, to understand each other.

And they must have come to a decision, because Narcissa turned and said:

"Rabastan, you take care of Draco."

Draco understood a moment later, but a moment was all Narcissa needed to sever the rope. She and Lucius were dragged into the wrong crack, and Draco was screaming for them even as Rabastan was pulled through.

"Don't let them get away!" he heard Bones scream over the roar of magic working around him.

People grabbed onto Draco, held on, but Rabastan didn't hear much as the shriek of magic took over, and he was pulled from one timeline to another.

To the timeline where Potter was.

 _To be continued…_

* * *

Short, but to the point!

Chapter three: Rabastan and Draco are on the other side of the crack. What awaits them, and who made it through with them?

See you later,

Tiro


	3. Chapter 3

**Fractured Time**

 **Summary** : Continuation of Birth of a Nightmare Man chapter thirteen, where we left Rabastan and Draco wondering about Harry Potter's fate. But now time has become a strange thing, and their world is dying. How can they escape? Will they ever see Harry Potter again?

 **Pairing/s** : None.

 **Warnings** : Time-travelling and dimension-travelling, some violence and gore. People acting OOC.

 **Disclaimers** : I don't own Harry Potter nor do I make any money on fanfiction.

-o-

Thanks for all the reviews, glad to see you're liking it!

 _Fractured Time_ takes place around five years before _The Nightmare Man's Journey._

-o-

 **Chapter Three**

Going through the crack was like Apparating, yet very different from it. Rabastan felt the raw magic around him, pulled at the rope and finally found Draco's arm. It was too bright to see, but he heard voices. More than Draco's.

 _Of course Bones' bloody people made it through with us!_

"Get your wand ready!" he screamed at Draco.

He didn't know where they would land. When they would land. He didn't even know _if_ they would land somewhere.

But soon enough the ground came hurling towards them, and Rabastan pulled Draco in, held him tightly before cushioning their fall with a spell. He still banged his shoulder as they landed on the ground, but then they rolled and got up. Rabastan caught the sight of at least twenty people, perhaps even more than that and how did they all manage to follow them without being sucked into some other crack in the Ministry?

He smelt burnt grass, and looked around. It was a field, a huge one, and they were standing in a charred crater of said field. Had magic done this? Had Potter's magic done it?

"Where are we?" Draco asked. "When are we?"

"No time for that!"

There was truly no time; Bones' group was getting their wands out, aiming them at him and Draco, and Rabastan wasn't about to lose here. So he grabbed Draco and Apparated, pulling the young Malfoy with him.

They smashed into a wall in an alley in London, and Rabastan expected the cracks. He truly did. He was just so used to them, that seeing a street in London not riddled with them made him pause for a bit.

Draco tugged at the rope still connecting them. The cut-off part reminded Rabastan of Narcissa and Lucius, and he pushed at his chest with the heel of his hand. He hadn't been friends with them while the Dark Lord was alive. They were always so concerned with family. It was the years following Potter's disappearance that he had spent time with the Malfoy couple.

It must have been a horrible choice for Narcissa, to be forced to choose between her husband and her son. She loved them both so dearly. But Rabastan understood her decision; he was connected to Draco and would thus not leave Draco alone. Had she gone with them, she would have left Lucius alone, wherever… whenever he ended up.

"Do you think they're dead?" Draco asked, holding onto the rope even if he had removed it from around his waist.

Rabastan silently begged to every deity that existed and bothered to listen to humans that they weren't. But begging, and in turn hoping, wasn't much of a reassuring answer.

"They're not," he said instead. "They're stuck, wherever they are, but they're together. They'll make the most of that."

"Yeah," Draco said.

His eyes were sort of glazed. But then he took a deep breath, blinked and straightened up. The young Malfoy heir was emerging from the fugitive young man he had been the last few years and despite the ragged robes he looked a bit like Lucius did in his younger years. Regal and calm. Rabastan smiled.

"So, can I ask now where the hell we are?" Draco wondered. "Or when. When it's a better question."

" _Tempus_ ," Rabastan said and smoke formed out of his wand, shaping the date. "2001."

"Alright," Draco said. "Is that a good thing? It's in the past."

"We'll see," Rabastan replied. "Let's sneak into the Ministry and get our bearings."

Draco nodded. They wouldn't go into an official entrance though; Rabastan led the way to one of the many secret entrances Lucius knew of, and was glad to see it was functioning. The lively sounds of London traffic and Muggles walking around were getting on his nerves. He had gotten used to the silence of a slowly crumbling world.

Once inside, they took a moment to get dirt off their robes, and disguised their faces a bit. Rabastan then led the way down the hall, Draco just behind him.

People milled around, not a single one of them paying him or Draco any attention. Rabastan was fine with that. He was actually glad to see a Ministry without the cracks of time distorting reality. He was glad to see it up and running.

Depending on who was Minister, though, he just might not be that happy soon.

"The atrium," he murmured to Draco who nodded.

They would hopefully get a clearer view of the time they had ended up in if they went there to observe. But they didn't quite get to the atrium before Lucius Malfoy entered the hallway they were in. He was reading from a parchment, and didn't appear to notice them.

"This isn't right," Draco whispered. "Father shouldn't… he shouldn't…"

Draco quieted down, just staring at Lucius. This one wasn't as gaunt and haunted as the one Rabastan had seen less than an hour ago. A lifetime ago. A whole world of cracks and realities ago, it felt like.

"Minister!"

Lucius looked up, and a young witch ran past them to get to Lucius.

"Minister, I'm so glad I found you," she said. "There are some disputes about the new law, and they would like your input on the matter. Also, they would like to hear lord Voldemort's opinion as well."

"Perfectly understandable," Lucius said, tucking the parchment away. "Tell them to come to my office; I shall call on lord Voldemort myself. Can you send a message to have tea sent up? No need to have it become a shouting match when we can calmly discuss it."

"Of course, minister, I'll get right to it!"

Then she ran off again, and Lucius changed directions towards the Minister's office. That apparently was his office. Because apparently, Lucius was the Minister of Magic. Rabastan stared after him.

"What the hell is going on?" Rabastan managed.

-o-

They left the Ministry and Rabastan considered trying conjuring Muggle coins for a hotel, but then decided against it. He didn't know how to act in front of a Muggle.

But Draco earned a bed in a somewhat safe place. So he pulled Draco into another alley and said:

"We're going to the Cauldron. Got any money?"

"A fair bit," Draco said, patting his pocket.

"Good. Keep the disguise, we'll get the food to our room and then leave in the morning to learn more."

"Where have we ended up?" Draco asked.

There was only one answer Rabastan could think off:

"Another dimension. It must be another dimension."

"Why would the crack take us here? Why did Potter's magic come from here?"

Had Potter come through to this dimension? Had his travel through the crack forced another dimension into existence? Or had it always been here? How many dimensions could exist in that case?

Rabastan shook his head before he could tread down that path and give himself a massive headache.

"He must be here," he said. "Come on, let's go. I could go for some sleep."

-o-

It was amazing, in one way, to be in a world that wasn't descending into chaos. Waking up in the Leaky Cauldron and being able to just walk without fear of being dragged through a crack of time was… well, rather nice. Very nice in fact.

They took their time to recover a little bit. Sleep away the stress that had been eating at them for years. Draco slept more than Rabastan, and the first morning he was confused. He had begun asking for his parents, before remembering. He didn't speak for the rest of the day.

After that though, Draco didn't slip up. They went out to learn more, and soon understood this world was the same, yet vastly different.

Lucius Malfoy had been the Minister of Magic for about five years or so. Magical England had been under Voldemort's rule that long as well, and he had an ally; a supposedly ancient monster.

"Nightmare Lord," Rabastan mused.

They had moved out from the Cauldron and found an abandoned house to squat in. They already knew they existed in this dimension and thus didn't want to cause any chaos by appearing out of nowhere.

Rabastan wondered briefly what Bones' group was doing. Being angry and upset, most likely, that the world they had ended up in was under the rule of a dark lord. But this Nightmare Lord… Rabastan looked through the parchments of information he already had on this man. It wasn't much, to be honest. Voldemort seemed to respect the man's wishes to remain in the shadows, and the information was limited to the public.

But he was supposedly old, very old, and had creatures such as Dementors on his side. He had an army of Inferi as well, and servants. He played a part of the taking of the Ministry and Hogwarts five years previously.

"We should meet with this dimension's Lucius," Rabastan said at last. "He wouldn't throw us to the wolves, especially not when he realizes you are really Draco."

"What about Bones and her people? Why haven't we heard anything about them?"

"They might be like us. Laying low until they've figured out the whole situation."

Rabastan didn't know much about the new situation, he realized a few days later when he spotted Potter. Not their Potter, but Potter from this dimension.

This Harry Potter looked completely fine, but he wasn't in the company of that Weasley boy and Granger girl. Maybe he wasn't friends with them in this dimension?

Draco and Rabastan watched this dimension's Harry Potter at a distance; they were in Diagon Alley and he appeared to be shopping. Trailing behind him was two women, both with a silvery sheen to their eyes. They didn't seem to be older than thirty, but for some reason Rabastan didn't trust that.

They spotted Potter again a few days later, but this time he was accompanied by none other than Severus Snape, as well as one of the women from before. Draco stared at Severus, looking healthy but wearing the same silvery sheen to his eyes. He seemed to advice Potter on some potion ingredients, both looking at a list.

"I still don't understand much," Draco said later, when they were having lunch in Muggle London.

"So is it time to schedule a meeting with Lucius?" Rabastan wondered.

"I see no other option. Once we've established our identities, father… this dimension's Lucius shouldn't do anything rash towards us."

Draco sighed and rubbed at his eyes. They were both still tired, a sort of bone-crushing exhaustion still lingering around. Rabastan just wanted to crash and sleep for days in a safe place. Knowing he could relax. He figured Draco wanted the same thing.

"I'll take care of it," Rabastan said. "Arranging the meeting. I'll do it under my name; that ought to be good enough."

"I suppose it would look weird if I did it," Draco confessed. "As soon as possible?"

"As soon as possible."

-o-

It still took three days to get a meeting with Lucius Malfoy, and they used the time to try and find out where the hell Bones and her group were hiding. They weren't having much luck with that though, and Rabastan threw in a last-minute trip to buy a new set of robes for them both. The ragged robes they had worked when disguising them a little bit, but it was better if they looked clean and neat for a meeting with the Minister of Magic.

Draco fretted up until they entered the Ministry. After that he walked next to Rabastan as they walked towards the Minister's office.

"Mr Lestrange, correct?" a young man said as they entered the outer room to the Minister's office. He glanced over at Draco before saying to Rabastan, "Mr Malfoy didn't expect his son to join you."

"I'm sure he won't mind," Rabastan replied, his heart kicking up a notch.

"Oh, he won't. Please go ahead."

It was either that Rabastan and Draco looked exactly the same as their counterparts, or this young man wasn't too familiar with their faces. Rabastan wasn't about to question it, and stepped through with Draco just behind him. The door closed.

Lucius was reading a document but the moment they entered he said:

"Rabastan, I never thought you would actually request a meeting with me on such formal grounds. You know my house is open…"

His voice trailed off as he looked up, and saw them. His eyes narrowed, and Lucius abandoned the parchment as he rose from the chair.

"It's alright," Draco said and stepped forward. "We're not enemies."

"You're wearing my son's face, I beg to differ."

"I'm not wearing… we're from another dimension."

Lucius stopped.

"Another… dimension?" he repeated. "Both of you?"

"You can check us with Veritaserum if you like," Draco said, "but we have no reason to lie to you."

Lucius took out his wand, but his movements were careful.

"I'll cast a diagnostic over both of you," he said. "It'll tell me enough for now."

They stood still and let Lucius cast it. He checked the results, which he had transferred over to an empty parchment, and then sat down.

"Another dimension," he repeated. "Oh dear me… I think I might need something stronger than tea for this conversation."

He had them sit down, and then cancelled the rest of his meetings for the day. With a Firewhiskey in his hand, Lucius settled down in front of them and said:

"From the beginning then, please."

They took turns. Rabastan knew more about Potter, and thus told that part. When the disappearance of Potter led to the cracks of time, Draco could tell more. He trailed off when he mentioned his parents being dragged through another crack, and Rabastan said:

"Wherever they are now, they're cut off from us, possibly forever. Most likely forever."

"You lost them," Lucius said.

"In a way, yes. I do believe they're still alive, but yes… we lost them." Rabastan dragged his hands through his hair and leaned his arms on his knees, sighing. "Bones' group followed through. We've been trying to find them, but they're hiding."

"They are a threat then?"

"Yes. To you, to everyone on your side. Our side."

"I need to inform Lord Voldemort about this," Lucius said. "He might want to check you with Legilimens."

"Sounds like the same Lord Voldemort I knew," Rabastan said.

Lucius had heard what happened to the other Voldemort, and didn't seem to have any questions. Did he believe them at all? He hadn't called for any Aurors. He had just sat and listened. Draco stared at the profile of Lucius' face as he kneeled by the fireplace, ready to call on Voldemort.

It was a short conversation and Lucius gracefully rose from his position while the flames flared up. Voldemort stepped through, brushing a bit of soot off his shoulders. Rabastan couldn't help but stare.

He looked younger, and definitely fresher, this Voldemort. Like the Dark Arts hadn't ruined him. Like he had never been vanished and forced into a new body. Maybe he hadn't. Rabastan hadn't thought to check it too closely.

"Gentlemen," Voldemort said and looked at them. "I trust Lucius already said the part about Legilimens?"

"Yes, he did my lord," Rabastan said. "If you don't mind, I'd like you to do me first. Draco here isn't very accustomed to it."

"Certainly."

Like always, like the Voldemort in their dimension, this one slipped into Rabastan's mind with barely a look. He felt it, Voldemort sifting through his memories, and allowed it. Once Voldemort retreated, satisfied, he did the same with Draco. He must have done it a bit gentler, because Draco didn't look very worried about it.

"They're telling the truth," Voldemort told Lucius. "But you already knew that."

"I had no reason to doubt my own son and a member of the Lestrange family."

"You two informed Lucius about enemies coming through with you?" Rabastan nodded. "Give me as much information as you can. Then I need to tell you something. Nothing bad, don't worry. Just some pleasing news, I believe."

Rabastan nodded, and together with Draco they began to write up the names in Bones' group. With the people they didn't know the name of they tried to the best of their ability to describe their faces.

They had reached the end of the list, when they heard a commotion outside the door. The moment the first spell hit the wall in the office outside Voldemort pushed forward, wand out. Rabastan and Draco followed, Lucius last but just as prepared as them.

Voldemort brought down two of the intruders with a spell, not killing them but binding them and having their wands taken away. Rabastan recognized them; they were from Bones' group. Five of them, two down and bound, three still fighting.

He brought up an elbow into the face of one of the women Draco had identified as a Patil. One of the Patil twins. Rabastan didn't care which one, just as long as she was down and bound. If Voldemort didn't want them dead, he wouldn't kill them.

It didn't take long at all before all five were bound and their wands were in Voldemort's hand.

"Bring them into my office," Lucius said to one of the Aurors that had come to the office. "Keep this quiet for now."

"Of course, Minister."

They were dragged in and Rabastan took some joy out of their shouting. They gave their plans away for anyone with half a brain, and Lucius seemed to consider to let them shout themselves hoarse to their hearts' contents. Voldemort however said to them:

"This is the people that Amelia Bones deemed worthy? What a tragic lot."

That made them go quiet. Voldemort held his wand, while inspecting the five he had taken from them.

"I think I should call on the Nightmare Lord," he told Lucius.

"A wise suggestion, my lord."

"Let me borrow your fireplace for a moment then, Lucius."

"I can't believe it," one of the five hissed. "We left one hellish reality, only to land in another."

For them perhaps. Rabastan would pay to see Bones' face when she realized that in this dimension, Lucius Malfoy was the Minister of Magic.

Voldemort pulled his head out of the fireplace and said:

"He wasn't home, but Elise is coming in his stead while the others find him and send him here."

"Who?" this Patil dared to asked.

"The Nightmare Lord," Voldemort replied as he came to stand before them. "Even if you are not from this dimension, surely you know that title."

The five looked at each other.

"There wasn't much known about him," Rabastan answered instead of them. "Your doing, my lord?"

"For all that he loves to bring chaos and fear onto people, he doesn't like being in the public eye," Voldemort admitted.

The fireplace flared and a woman stepped through. Draco grabbed Rabastan's robe; it was the same woman who had been accompanying Harry Potter of this dimension.

"Voldemort," she said with a nod. "Lucius."

"Elise. I'd like to introduce you to some people here," Voldemort said. "First of all, Rabastan Lestrange and Draco Malfoy from another dimension. Then, five people from the enemy side who apparently tried to get in here and what, kill Lucius?"

"If he was gone, we'd have a chance," one said.

If Rabastan remembered correctly, Draco called him Macmillan.

"Have a chance at what?" Lucius said.

"Getting rid of the darkness that has infested this country for the last five years," Macmillan continued. "It wouldn't solve much, getting rid of Lucius Malfoy, but it would be a start."

"Wouldn't be much of a start," Elise said. "Master adores Lucius' face. He wouldn't let you mar it."

Lucius rolled his eyes at the comment.

"We would've made it if it wasn't for… Voldemort," another spoke. "We'd take care of Malfoy, and then find Potter and get rid of him as well…"

"Potter?" Elise spoke and walked up to them. "Harry Potter is under master's protection."

"Not this dimension's Potter," Patil replied. "Our dimension's. The one who started all the chaos in our world."

"We believe our dimension's Harry Potter came through to here," Rabastan explained to Elise. "There were cracks of times in our world, and we went through one, following his magic."

"I see. Yes, a Harry Potter did come through to this dimension."

She seemed pretty sure of it, and Rabastan found himself straightening a bit. But then she continued:

"I believe he came through to here around 1800 years ago. During the second century."

Rabastan's heart sank like a stone, and settled like a freezing weight in his stomach. He felt cold and clammy, yet had a roaring heat around his head. Second century? 1800 years ago? That meant… _that meant he's long-since dead_.

His crazy friend. The reckless hero-turned-enemy. The one who Dementors followed. _Dead?_

"So he's dead?" Macmillan said. "He's dead!"

The five looked happy, despite the fact they were captured, and Rabastan felt like kicking them. He felt like killing them. Surely lord Voldemort wouldn't begrudge him that?

He looked at Elise, and she tilted her head while watching the five from Bones' group. Only now did Rabastan notice her boots seemed spiky at the front, and not as some sort of fashion statement.

"You seem awfully pleased about it," Elise said.

"That's one of our goals. To make sure Potter is dead. Seems like time itself sorted that for us."

The man, one of the completely unknown to both Rabastan and Draco when it came to a name, was about to continue when Elise kicked him in the head. The spikes made the skin split and had him screaming in pain as he fell over. Neither Voldemort nor Lucius flinched at her actions.

"How dare you," she hissed, lips curling in disdain at them. "How dare you assume something as trivial as _time_ can kill him?"

 _What?_

"Elise, before I forget," Voldemort said and held out the wands. "He would be rather pleased with this, won't he?"

"Oh yes," Elise said and turned from the group as if she hadn't just kicked one of them, taking the wands from Voldemort. "Master does love collecting wands."

"What do you mean?" Patil began.

But before Elise could answer, Macmillan was on his feet. His hands were free. He must have been working away on it ever since they were bound. He got the others free and they bolted from the office. They didn't get very far, because Aurors were still around the office and caught them before they fled.

"What were they thinking?" Lucius wondered as he walked into the corridor. "No, we're alright. Slippery prisoners, that's all."

The Aurors bound the group members once more and one of the Aurors said:

"Are they to be killed?"

"Yes," Lucius said, "but not just yet. I believe lord Voldemort can extract whatever information we need from them."

"Alright. Just say the word, minister, and we can take care of the bodies."

"Thank you."

"That was rather stupid," Rabastan said to Draco. "Do they always do things like that?"

"Probably," Draco said. "Elise, was it? What did you mean… earlier, about assuming time could kill him? You mean Potter?"

She wasn't looking at him though. Someone had appeared at the end of the hallway. It was a man with long, dark hair and piercing, green eyes. He walked with purpose, directly towards them, slender and lithe, with robes cut to fit his frame perfectly. However, he was missing his left arm around the elbow. Rabastan soon located it; the man was holding the missing stump in his right hand. Blood dripped down onto the floor. Either the man didn't notice, or he didn't care because he wasn't trying to stop it.

Elise's gaze snapped down to the lower arm hanging loosely in the man's hand, and said:

"What did you do?"

"Bold of you to assume I did anything," the man replied.

"What. Did you. Do?"

"Asking again won't help."

"Master…"

"That tone stopped working on me a long time ago."

"Master, I will have you chained down onto the bed for the next two days if you don't answer me."

"Kinky. Also, I spent a long time stuck to a stone chair; two days in bed? Heaven in comparison. Hello, Voldemort. Hello, pretty face."

"How come I always get to be 'pretty face'?" Lucius wondered.

"It's a compliment," Elise told him.

The man was already looking at the five bound people. His gaze jumped up to Rabastan and Draco for a moment before it cut back to Voldemort.

"You called for me?" he continued.

"Yes, I did. Don't you… recognize them?"

Voldemort gestured to the bound people, and then to Rabastan and Draco. Rabastan himself was starting to realize something. Those eyes, he _knew_ those eyes.

It couldn't be. But it had to be. Draco didn't seem to get it, and neither did the five from Bones' group but Rabastan took a chance. He prayed he was right, and said:

"Potter?"

The man looked at Rabastan.

"Pottery? Where?" The man turned around to have a look behind him. "No, corridor's empty. Hang on, you said Potter, not pottery. Why did you say Potter?"

"Master," Elise began. "Look harder?"

"I can only look so hard at someone, Elise, don't make me out to be an idiot."

But the man glanced a second time at Rabastan, and then Draco, and stilled.

"Oh," he said. " _Oooh_ , with Potter, you meant me. Rabastan, Draco. Oh, dear."

"You're Potter," Draco finally realized. "You're Harry Potter from our dimension."

"Yes. No! Not Potter, not anymore, I threw that name away _ages_ ago. I don't like it attached to me. Call me Harrison instead." He looked around them. "Why are we standing in the corridor? Aren't you supposed to have tea at moments like this? Elise?"

"Don't ask me," Elise said.

"You're the one who normally gives people tea!"

"I have no idea what you're talking about, master."

"Now you're just being annoying on purpose. Is it because of the arm? It's because of the arm, isn't it?"

"Now where did you get that idea from, master?"

"Oh, for the love of…"

Potter, no, Harrison, _their friend_ that apparently was well over a thousand years old, put the severed arm against his stump, and _dear god, he's still crazy_ Rabastan thought. But he didn't get to do more than think that before magic surged. Potter's, _Harrison's_ , magic surged around them and he stared as Harrison grimaced. Then Harrison let go of his arm and… and it didn't fall to the floor, on the account of being attached to the rest of him again.

Harrison wiggled his fingers, inspecting the part where the arm had been severed. Besides the blood, there was nothing. No wound or even scar. The five from Bones' group stared.

"There, all better," Harrison said. "Now will you stop being annoying, Elise?"

"I'm perfect, master, and you know it," she replied.

"Yes, yes, whatever. Shall we go into the office? Who are those five? Am I supposed to know them?"

"They are from your original dimension," Voldemort said.

"Yes, well, I'm a bit old, I can't remember everything."

"You remember those two," Voldemort said, pointing at Rabastan and Draco.

"They are special," Harrison protested.

"Patil and Macmillan are two of them," Draco supplied. "Same year as us."

Harrison walked up to Draco and Rabastan, and looked at the group once more. They still hadn't stopped staring.

"Nope, doesn't ring any bells," he said. "Give me a minute. And a chair, I'll take a chair as well."

They moved back to the office, and Voldemort set out to dig through the group's minds for information while Elise served tea to the rest of them after he waved away the offer, saying he'd have some later.

"So you were angry about the arm," Harrison said. Elise gave him a look. "It was just an accident!"

"Rebel-based accident or you being reckless-accident, master?"

"I'm always being reckless, Elise, you can't call it that," he replied, before snapping his fingers. "Macmillan didn't like me. Snakes?"

"Yes, because you could talk to snakes," Draco said. "And then he didn't like you because you turned evil."

"Well, that's a rather natural progress for him, isn't it?"

"Wait," Macmillan said. "Wait, I still don't… Potter? She said you landed in the second century!"

Was it only sinking in now for him? Rabastan thought they had all gotten it out in the corridor who Harrison was.

"I did," Harrison replied as he looked at Macmillan. "I don't like your face. Why don't I like your face? Well, it doesn't really matter in the end."

"But it's 2001!"

"I know that very well. Elise insists on reminding me."

"But you don't… you _can't_ be that old."

"I hate wrinkles," Harrison said. "So I have no wrinkles. Also, I'm immortal."

He's _what?_

-o-

One of members in Bones' group was already lying on the floor, staring off into nothingness. Voldemort hadn't been gentle when looking through his mind, and wasn't aiming for it. The others in the group had been silenced as he took a look at their memories as well.

Rabastan himself couldn't stop staring at Harrison. It was their Potter. The moment Harrison got up and moved, he saw it. He moved like he used to. He made the same hand gestures. He had the same, insane glint in his eyes. Those lips shaped the same, wide smile like always, especially when he was informed he'd get the five people to do whatever he wanted with, and he got to know what kind of world he had left behind.

"You'll come with me, right?" Harrison then asked Rabastan and Draco. "Unless you live somewhere else?"

"We haven't settled down," Rabastan said. "We were looking for you. Didn't know I should've looked at the information regarding an ancient lord."

"I didn't set out to become one, but one thing led to the other…"

"Twenty-seven people including these five," Voldemort said at last as he rose up. "They change hiding places, so these five don't know where they are now. They volunteered to kill Lucius."

"Then they should've tried when I wasn't in my office," Lucius said. "Did they think people in the Ministry would congratulate them for killing me?"

"They do seem to suffer under the impression the2re are mostly people on their side in the Ministry."

"I'm not going to say there aren't any people on their side within the Ministry, but the majority seems to like me as a Minister," Lucius said. "So these five were bound to fail. Anything else, my lord?"

"They are all obsessed with killing their dimension's Harry Potter as well. Which means we don't need to worry at all on that part."

"Master will still be careful," Elise said. "He can still lose limbs and organs."

"Yes, yes, we know this."

"They don't," she said and pointed at Rabastan and Draco. "Don't let him do stupid things."

"Still here, Elise, I can hear you," Harrison said.

"Doesn't stop you from doing stupid things, master."

"I can't argue on that point," Harrison admitted. "Anything else they have, Voldemort?"

"I now know the faces and names of them all," Voldemort said. "However, we'll need to be a bit discreet about this. The public would be worried if they heard about people coming from other dimensions."

"Shall we only involve the Death Eaters?" Lucius wondered.

"I think so. May we have some help from your servants, Harrison?"

"Sure," he said. "Do you know any former hiding places of theirs? I can have Lucian check it out."

"I'll do it," Elise said.

Voldemort pulled out the memory for her to watch in a Pensive Lucius had in the office.

"Perhaps it's easier if we take the people with a Portkey?" Harrison wondered, tapping his lips with his fingers as he looked over the five people.

Macmillan was the only one who seemed somewhat awake, but his struggles didn't loosen the ropes this time around. Harrison saw it though, and smiled as he said:

"Trying to escape? I might let you. It would be fun."

"What do you mean?" Macmillan said.

"I mean it would be fun to chase you. Maybe. Depends on how good of a runner you are. People who give up right away are boring. It's much more fun the longer they run."

"Fun to do what?"

"To torture you afterwards, of course," Harrison replied.

Since Voldemort and Lucius seemed to take no notice of what he just said, Rabastan concluded this was a normal part of Harrison. He looked forward to learn more about his friend. It didn't matter his friend had gone even crazier, or that he was over a thousand years old. It was still their Harry Potter, only in an aged form.

Elise left to check out one of the former hiding places, while Harrison got a Portkey ready for himself, Rabastan, Draco and Harrison's new prisoners.

"I'll come by later," Voldemort said. "Or perhaps tomorrow? Give you a bit of time with your friends?"

"Sure," Harrison said.

Harrison pulled the prisoners and had them touch the Portkey before gesturing to Rabastan and Draco to do the same.

"Can we travel within the Ministry?" Rabastan asked.

"Special permission if it's a Portkey the Nightmare Lord created," Lucius said, looking at Draco. "Is it alright if I come with lord Voldemort, to talk to Draco?"

"Only if he wants to," Harrison said.

Draco just nodded, before grabbing the Portkey tighter.

"Alright, pretty face gets to join. Later then, cheers!"

Rabastan wasn't sure how Harrison activated the Portkey, only that he was tugged forward violently. He hadn't travelled with a Portkey for years, but still remembered how to land while the five from Bones' group landed in a heap. Harrison didn't seem that concerned, and dismissed the Portkey while Draco and Rabastan had a look around.

They had landed in front of a manor. A rather large one. With a tower or two. A pale man with markings on his skin came walking up to them.

"Master," he said. "Who are these?"

"Ah, yes, the ones on the ground are prisoners. These two are special," Harrison said and gestured at Rabastan and Draco.

"Special prisoners?"

"No! They're friends, from my original timeline."

"Oh." The man bowed to them. "My name's Lucian, master's second servant."

"Second?" Rabastan said.

"Yes, second," Harrison said. "Back in the day, I kind of lost my memories… for a few hundred years. I made servants. Two of them. I have more now, but Elise and Lucian were the first ones."

Lost his memories for hundreds of years? Rabastan wondered what could have caused that.

"Lucian, take those five to the dungeons. Also, two rooms for Rabastan and Draco?"

"I'll have Ywgraine take care of the rooms. Lucy has been looking for you."

"What does that devil want now?"

"Master, she's a ten-year old child."

"Yes. Devil. Where is she?"

"Probably driving Severus crazy," Lucian said.

"That's not hard; I drive him crazy the moment I try to make a potion."

"You don't make potions; you make disasters that sometimes have a liquid form that you try to pass off as potions."

"Semantics," Harrison told Rabastan and Draco while rolling his eyes. "Come along then."

He led the way into the manor.

"So, around 1800 years old?" Rabastan said.

"Yes, there about. People think it's all nice being immortal, but really, it can be quite inconvenient sometimes."

"Like when?" Rabastan had to ask.

"Like when half your body is destroyed and you just continue living," Harrison told them. "That was an experience. I think I slept for years to make up for the damage my body received. Oh, and five years ago I had my lungs ripped right out of my chest. That hurt. But I tore off that man's head in retaliation so I guess we're even."

"Lungs ripped out?" Draco said.

"Oh, yes. It was Fudge who did it." Harrison turned to them. "It was a bit embarrassing, I have to admit that. I mean, that man was never really a challenge, I was just being reckless."

"It sounds more like you were being a bloody idiot," Draco said.

"There is one thing you must learn, Draco," Harrison said and grabbed his shoulders. "When I say reckless… I actually just mean stupid."

"You're insane."

Draco just spoke their thoughts out loud, and Harrison laughed.

"That's old news," he replied. "Like, _really_ old news. Shall we sit down, or do the rooms? Rooms maybe. Ywgraine!"

He called out to the manor in general, and it didn't take long for a woman to run up to them. She looked from Harrison to Rabastan and Draco, and said:

"Who are these, master?"

"My friends. Can you prepare two rooms for them? Near mine, please."

"Oh, of course!" she said and clapped her hands. "Lucy wondered where you were."

"What about Angel; she didn't wonder where I was?"

"Admit it, master; you like them."

"No," Harrison said. "Devils, both of them."

He didn't explain who they were, but Rabastan had heard Lucy's age. She was a child from the sounds of it. Harrison's? No, he had never struck Rabastan as a father.

Ywgraine went off to prepare the rooms, while Harrison went deeper into the manor. They soon heard a girl's voice, and then Severus' deep voice answering. The moment Harrison opened a door, Rabastan and Draco heard a shriek of:

"Uncle Harrison!"

A girl threw her arms around Harrison's waist, and grinned up at him.

"Hello," Harrison said, looking a fair bit stiffer than just a moment ago. "Devil."

"My name's Lucy, Uncle Harrison."

"I know I'm old, but there's no need to make me feel old every time you address me, young lady."

She laughed and let him go before running back into the room again. Harrison cleared his throat and stepped in as well, followed by Rabastan and Draco. Rabastan felt Draco grab his sleeve as they caught sight of Severus.

He was bent over a cauldron, peering down onto its contents and saying:

"Whatever you say you want to make, master, the answer is no."

"I'm not going to make anything, I'm having friends over. Well, not just over, they'll live here."

"Friends?" Severus said and looked up. He narrowed his eyes. "Isn't that…"

"They're from my universe," Harrison hurried to explain as he was dragged over to Severus by Lucy. "My original universe that is. I made a mess over there!"

"A mess?"

"Oh, yes. Listen to this…"

Harrison proceeded, with the help of Rabastan and Draco, to tell Severus about the world filled with cracks of time, a world slowly descending into chaos. Rabastan made sure to be overly dramatic, because it made Draco snort and it made Harrison's eyes lit up with delight. At one point, his old friend just sat there, clapping his hands, barely able to contain his energy hearing what chaos he had left behind. Severus rolled his eyes at Harrison's antics, listened without pause, and then said:

"Well, I figured master would be pleased about having caused a world to descend into madness. But what will happen to that timeline?"

"Perhaps the cracks will stop," Rabastan said. "Perhaps they won't. Either way, the damage they have done is most likely too great to ever fix."

"I don't care," Harrison said. "All I cared about in that world is here with me now."

"The Dementors… they vanished after you did," Rabastan said. "Do you know why?"

"Yes, I do. I didn't at first, but they explained it. Somehow, they managed to travel between dimensions."

Harrison seemed unsure of the details, and how it was possible, but Rabastan was willing to accept just about anything at this point. So they had travelled through dimensions, and left again after Harrison disappeared.

At one point, a young girl tottered into the room and simply climbed into Harrison's lap. While flinching for a moment, Harrison did allow her to do whatever she wanted.

"Who are these two then?" Rabastan asked at last, pointing at Lucy and the girl.

"That is Lucy, and this is Angel."

"Yes, but whose are they?"

"Uncle Harrison killed my parents," Lucy said. "And he stole Angel from hers."

"That was an accident," Harrison said. "I was tired."

"You still stole her."

"Yes, by accident."

"You killed her parents?" Rabastan said, glancing at Lucy.

"She's surprisingly alright with that," Harrison said.

"It's fine," Lucy said with a shrug. "Uncle Harrison is nice."

For some reason, Harrison shuddered. Severus grinned.

"Master does hate being called nice."

"It's unnatural," Harrison hissed.

"Alright, Uncle Harrison is insane, but he buys us presents," Lucy said. "Ywgraine and Joanne are nice. Elise too, but she's a bit like Uncle Harrison."

"That's better."

At this point, someone pushed the door open. It was Lucian, with a rather large tray. Severus sighed and started putting his potion ingredients away, as well as putting out the only fire lit under one of the cauldrons.

"Tea?" Harrison asked. "We had tea."

"Food, not just tea," Lucian said. "These sandwiches are for you, master."

"I don't need them."

"You are eating them, master."

Harrison poked at them, and got his hands slapped away.

"Don't be picky, master," Lucian said.

"Well then, Elise shouldn't have spoiled me by letting me be picky for well over a thousand years," Harrison snapped.

"There aren't any cold vegetables on the sandwiches, master. Don't be such a child. Look at Angel and Lucy, eating without a complaint."

"They're better behaved than me," Harrison muttered as he viciously bit into one of the sandwiches.

"I wasn't sure what you two preferred," Lucian told Rabastan and Draco, "so I went with a bit of everything. Please do tell us if you have any special food preferences."

"Thank… you," Rabastan said, not used to have someone care about what he ate.

Angel and Lucy were both delights, and Harrison did seem to like them a lot even if their nearness made him a bit stiff. But the longer Angel sat in his lap, the more he seemed to relax.

"Master isn't very used to children being near him," Severus said after a while, when Angel was distracting Harrison with some questions. "He's not a caretaker. I'm surprised he kept them. He took this dimension's Harry Potter too."

"We saw him, with Elise and with you," Draco said. "In Diagon Alley."

"Oh, yes, master is quite protective over the children. Then again, most of us are children in his eyes. But the youngest don't travel alone."

Angel floated past them with a giggle. Rabastan turned to look at Harrison.

"What?" Harrison said. "She likes to fly."

"You're spoiling them," Severus informed him.

"Well, what else am I supposed to do? My form of discipline involves a lot of gutting, blood and screaming."

The door slammed open, and Ywgraine was there.

"The rooms are ready!" she said.

"Thank you," Harrison said as he wriggled his fingers.

Magic filled the room, Harrison's magic, and Angel laughed out loud as the magic pulled her back to his arms. Such easy display of power… Rabastan gaped. Just how strong was Harrison?

-o-

It was perhaps early for them to go to bed, but Rabastan was exhausted. It had been a day of discoveries, but at long last he had found his crazy friend. One who had thrown away his name, become a dark lord, and was now considered an ancient being.

The creator of Dementors and Inferi, although Voldemort had figured it out on his own in their original dimension. Harrison, the Nightmare Lord who had terrorized Muggles and magical people alike. The man who befriended the four founders of Hogwarts, the one who in this dimension gave the castle its name.

He was complicated and horrible and kind, to those who counted. He was a fussy eater, despised cold vegetables and his Muggle relatives were demons in his head. Rabastan figured it would take some time to grow to know his friend again.

But they had time now. They were in a world without cracks of time spilling through and distorting reality. Bones' group was still a problem, for now, but Rabastan felt confident Harrison along with Voldemort and Lucius would take care of them.

With that, Rabastan fell asleep quite easily, feeling safe for the first time in years.

 _To be continued…_

* * *

Bit late, per usual, but much longer chapter this time around!

Chapter four: Rabastan and Draco get used to life in the Nightmare Lord's manor.

Cheers,

Tiro


	4. Chapter 4

**Fractured Time**

 **Summary** : Continuation of Birth of a Nightmare Man chapter thirteen, where we left Rabastan and Draco wondering about Harry Potter's fate. But now time has become a strange thing, and their world is dying. How can they escape? Will they ever see Harry Potter again?

 **Pairing/s** : None.

 **Warnings** : Time-travelling and dimension-travelling, some violence and gore. People acting OOC.

 **Disclaimers** : I don't own Harry Potter nor do I make any money on fanfiction.

-o-

Writer's block struck me, like it often has the last few years. But finally, here's the new chapter! Enjoy, everyone.

 _Fractured Time_ takes place around five years before _The Nightmare Man's Journey._

-o-

 **Chapter Four**

Rabastan woke up to a bang. A literal bang, and without thinking he rushed out of bed. He opened the door just in time to see a Weasley twin sprint past his door. Severus wasn't far behind him, wand out and yelling. At a more sedate pace, Harrison came walking. He discovered Rabastan and waved, hair a mess and sleep-crusted eyes squinting at him.

"What's going on?" Rabastan asked.

"Fred… or George, couldn't quite see which one, had a bit of a mishap with a potion. Hence the explosion. Severus wasn't very pleased. Why must they do it in any other room _except_ for the room meant for potion-making?"

"Oh. Yes, I did see Severus' look. Fred and George?"

"This dimension's Fred and George," Harrison clarified. "I might have… laid a claim on them. But they were eaten by a Dementor first. Their souls."

"What?"

"I had it spit them out. Terrible parent, I am, but I had plans."

Parent. He didn't see himself as much of a parent to Lucy and Angel, that much was clear the day before. Perhaps a deranged uncle, if Rabastan had to hazard a guess. But he considered the Dementors his children? Why wasn't Rabastan more surprised about that?

"Right, plans," Rabastan just said. "Well, now I'm wide awake. Unlike you."

"Hmm?"

Harrison had his eyes closed, arms crossed and hunching over a bit. Like he was trying to sleep while standing up. Rabastan took his arm and said:

"Let's walk a bit."

"I've only slept for an hour. I need more, but that explosion woke me up."

"Let's walk and find a quiet corner then. If that exists in this manor."

Harrison's home had several corridors, and small corner spaces everywhere. There were some hidden corridors behind the walls, and rooms closed off to everyone but Harrison himself. He chose one of them, pulling Rabastan behind him, and Rabastan found himself looking at four portraits. All four people within were sleeping.

"Rabastan, this is Salazar Slytherin, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw and Godric Gryffindor. Lovely children, really, they are. Also, Salazar and Rowena fancied me a bit, isn't that adorable?"

Rabastan's brain took a while to process all this, and by that point Harrison had found a blanket and was falling asleep in an armchair. Well, he was trying his best at least. Rabastan looked around, found an ottoman and pulled it up to in front of Harrison. He grabbed a hold of Harrison's legs and put the feet up, pulling the blanket over them.

"Comfy?" he then asked.

"I'm an old man, you know. I'm not the child you knew, Rabastan."

"Had you been that child, I would've treated you like this because you would've been a kid. Now I can use the excuse that you are an old man, to spoil you."

"Oh. So no matter what age, you're not going to change how you act?"

"Precisely. Also, you've still got traits of the crazy kid I knew."

"Crazy, huh?" Harrison smiled at that. "Some things don't change. Now, let me sleep for a bit."

It didn't take that long for Harrison to fall asleep, and Rabastan settled back in his own armchair, eyes on the man. When looking outwardly, he could hardly find a trace of Harry Potter. The scar was gone, his face had changed into something thinner and sharper, and whatever had made him look like his father was gone now that he had longer hair.

Yet Rabastan had known. He had known it was his friend. The eyes remained the same. Just older. A lot older. It was scary to think that this man before him was nearing two thousand years old, and that it was Harry Potter.

"I haven't seen you before."

The voice came from one of the paintings, and Rabastan turned to look. Rowena Ravenclaw gazed down at him, hands clasped in her lap. She smiled.

"Who might you be?"

"I'm… Rabastan. Rabastan Lestrange."

The other founders were waking up as well, Salazar stretching and Helga covering a yawn. But soon enough, all four were looking at him. Rabastan wondered if he should wake Harrison up.

"He doesn't invite a lot of people in here," Rowena continued.

"I knew him, when he was young?" Rabastan said. "When he was… Harry Potter."

"So you're from lord's past?" Salazar said.

"Lord?"

"Back when we knew him, he had no other name," Rowena said. "So you knew him by his old name?"

"Yes. And now by his new name."

"Were you two friends?"

"I think we were. Not sure if either of us really knew how to be friends with people anymore. He lost his, and I never really grew up having any," Rabastan admitted. "We just made it up as we went along."

He did consider Harrison his friend. He just wasn't sure if Harrison had done the same. Back when he was Potter, it was difficult to get a read on his true intentions. He was crazy alright, but there were many things Rabastan didn't know about him. Maybe he didn't consider Rabastan a friend, considering what Potter's real friends had done. Perhaps Potter had thought friends turned their back on each other.

"How did you end up here?" Helga wondered.

Rabastan found himself spilling the entire story, from start to finish, probably telling the four founders a lot more about Harrison than they had heard before. Especially considering their gasps and quest to find out more and more.

"He never told you any of this?" Rabastan asked at last.

"Not in great detail," Godric said. "Never really got a straight answer out of him about his past, not easily anyway."

"He felt a lot of pain about his past," Rowena said. "About losing his friend for no reason. Killing all those people didn't help making him feel better. I do believe at one point that the lord just kept killing to not be bored."

"After George died, he came to the prison where I was," Rabastan said, a detail he hadn't told them yet. "I am a bad man, but then again, so is Harrison. And I did come to like the brat when he was imprisoned; I suppose he felt some sort of attachment to me. Or maybe I was the only person he could stand at the time. He freed me, and released Dementors upon a city."

Rabastan didn't know how many had died that night, their souls stolen right out of their bodies. But it had been thousands.

"I don't know why exactly he did that," Rabastan confessed as he looked at Harrison's peaceful face. "Probably working out his anger and grief. After that, he never really stopped doing that."

"So he's always been a handful?" Helga said. "Elise and Lucian had their work cut out, making sure he was happy whilst ensuring he remained in one piece."

"I don't envy them. He was fine with me, I could argue and all that, but from what I've heard about the old him, the one who didn't remember George dying… he sounds like a right arsehole to take care of."

"Who's the arsehole?" Harrison muttered, shifting in his seat.

"You," Rabastan said.

"That's old news, Rabastan. Are you lot gossiping about me?"

"Well, you never tell us anything," Salazar said. "Thankfully you came here with a person who was more than happy to share details."

"Ugh, details," Harrison replied as he opened his eyes to slits. "I'm still tired."

"So go back to sleep, it ain't that hard," Rabastan said.

"Then shush."

"Don't tell me to shush. You shush."

"Yeah, you shush," Godric said.

"Children…" Harrison groaned and pulled the blanket over his head. "I'm surrounded by children."

"You started it," Rowena pointed out.

"Yes, I know. Sleeping again."

Rabastan relaxed into his seat. The blanket dropped down soon enough, with Harrison asleep once more. He didn't look very evil now, but then again, few did in their sleep.

"This is rather strange," Rabastan said. "I still feel like I'm dreaming. That I'm going to wake up and realize I didn't find him again. That we're trapped in a dying world, me and Draco and his parents."

"It must have been quite a depressing place to live in," Rowena said.

"We managed, somehow. I'll get used to not being there."

The conversation tapered on and off as Harrison slept soundly next to Rabastan. At one point, Lucian found them and brought Rabastan something to eat. When he tried to say he could get it himself next time, Lucian stared him down until he resigned to the fact he would most likely not be able to get food himself without one of Harrison's servants interfering. Apparently, the sandwiches the day before weren't a one-time occurrence.

A while later, when Rabastan had gotten a book to read, Elise came and told them Voldemort had arrived.

"Should we wake him?" Rabastan said.

"Might as well, or he won't sleep tonight," she replied and moved to stand in front of Harrison.

He noted she didn't touch Harrison.

"Master, time to wake up."

Harrison opened one eye, then the other. He yawned and stretched out.

"What?" he said to Elise.

"Voldemort is here."

"Oh. Fine." Harrison got up from the chair. "Let's go then."

"Maybe you should dress, master?"

Harrison tapped himself and transformed his clothes to something more of a daywear. Rabastan did the same with his own clothes, not wanting to appear in his sleeping clothes in front of the Dark Lord.

Voldemort was waiting in the hall, with Lucius. Lucian must have gone to get Draco, because they came down the stairs shortly afterwards.

"Joanne and Christian are preparing tea and something to eat to it," Elise said. "Are you going to be in the same room?"

"I was thinking of going through a few things with Harrison," Voldemort said. "But I see no reason to not being in the same room."

So they ended up in the living room, Lucius and Draco soon engrossed in conversation that Rabastan kept being dragged into until he simply just let himself be with the two of them. Voldemort and Harrison was poring over papers, apparently planning on how to search for Bones' group with Death Eaters and Harrison's servants working together.

He wondered how long it would take for it to feel normal, being with Harrison. In one way, he felt it was normal already. In another way, he felt completely foreign to this home and all its inhabitants.

Angel and Lucy came in at one point, apparently Ywgraine baby-sitting them, and Angel climbed up in the armchair Harrison was sitting in. As he was focused on the papers, he didn't stiffen up as he did yesterday, not even when Angel clung to his back and put her little head on his shoulder. Lucy looked at Rabastan and Draco an extra time, but Ywgraine said:

"It's just master's friends."

"I know," the girl replied.

She was taking it rather well. Rabastan wondered how often new people came into the house, or if Lucy was just really good at adjusting to new things.

"You look like one of the Death Eaters," she told him.

"Me?" he said and she nodded. "I'm not surprised, considering I am a Death Eater from another dimension."

"You mean… there's two of you?" Lucy looked at him, and then at Draco. "He looks different."

"It's a different Draco," Rabastan said. "Harrison knew us."

Lucy dragged a chair over to him, and thus Rabastan ended up with a ten-year old girl asking him dozens of questions about him, Draco, Harrison and the world they had left behind. It didn't take long before Rabastan began to wonder if Lucy had always had this dismissive, easy-going nature or if she developed it after Harrison took her in.

Ywgraine was sitting near them, listening intently when Rabastan retold Lucy stories about Harrison when he was young. He left out any gory details, and instead told her how Harrison loved to get the Dementors to wake Rabastan up, knowing full well how Rabastan reacted. Screaming like there was no tomorrow.

"Oh, so Uncle Harrison has always been weird?" Lucy asked at last.

"Well, not when he was your age. He changed when he got older."

"There is a time when he was normal?" she wondered.

"Not really normal, no. Or, no, that's wrong. For the first year in his life, he was most likely normal. Most toddlers are."

"Uncle Harrison as a toddler," Lucy said and stared into space. "I can't imagine it."

"So adorable," Ywgraine muttered. "Master, as a toddler…"

Rabastan checked to see if Harrison had heard that, but he seemed absorbed in the papers even as Angel had started braiding his hair with the skill of a child. She even had her tongue sticking out in concentration.

This… this, Rabastan could get used to.

-o-

But no, he didn't settle in right away. Rabastan kept waking up, thinking he would be met by a townhouse's dusty rooms, old mattresses and a cracked reality outside the window. Waking up in a soft bed, in a dust-free room, and nothing but a garden outside his window was a bit confusing until he remembered.

What didn't take that long to figure out, merely a week, was that Harrison wasn't a morning person. Probably because he didn't seem to sleep often, and when he did, it wasn't long enough so he woke up still tired, which caused him to be in a cranky mood unless he could be persuaded to take a nap. Like a tired toddler.

(Draco's words, not Rabastan's but yes, it was satisfying to see the look on Harrison's face when Draco told him that.)

"Why doesn't he sleep longer?" Rabastan asked Elise one and a half week after they had arrived at Harrison's manor. "I mean, is he that busy?"

"No, it's just master is worried he'll oversleep."

"Oversleep? By how much can he oversleep?"

"By a year or so," she replied. "Master could sleep for months on end, before. But he also doesn't like to dream, so he stays up as long as possible to be assured his sleep is so deep he won't dream."

"Oh… well, I suppose that's one method."

Rabastan wondered what kind of dreams Harrison had, to make him want to avoid dreaming that much. Maybe he would work up the courage to ask the man one day.

However, as much as Rabastan kept thinking he had dreamed this all up only to realize it was reality, he and Draco soon enough settled into a rhythm in the Nightmare Lord's manor. There wasn't any routines on how things were done at the manor, except for the children; they had meal times and pretty much a set time when they went to bed. Additionally, Angel still got tired during the days and while she insisted she didn't need naps, she usually ended up sleeping an hour or so in the afternoon.

Her favourite place seemed to be resting against Harrison's chest as he sat reading a book. Rabastan hadn't taken Harrison as much of a reader back when he was Potter, and while he had vast amounts of knowledge now, much of it seemed to come from practical experience and just the years he had been alive.

"It's an attempt of a new hobby," Lucian explained to Rabastan. "Reading."

"Reading as a hobby?"

"It's better than the time he considered torture a hobby."

"Oh…"

"I liked it when he did things," Elise muttered. "Master is much calmer if he does things, instead of just sitting around."

"Reading isn't just sitting around," Lucian insisted.

"For master, it might as well be."

"He doesn't seem that bored yet."

"That's only because he's terrified of disturbing Angel's sleep."

"Why would he be scared of that?" Rabastan wondered quietly.

"Because Angel has a powerful set of lungs to cry with," Elise said. "And she knows by now how to use that to her advantage."

"You mean he isn't used to children crying around him."

"I mean, he can't kill this one because he likes her too much."

Hearing Harrison probably having killed children before should be horrifying, and it was to normal people. But Rabastan hadn't been good in a long, long time so he just nodded and carried on as usual.

As Rabastan started to learn more and more about Harrison, he also realized Harrison made no real effort to remain in the public eye. He aided Voldemort and Lucius whenever necessary, of course, but he didn't try to be a member of any society. He kept to the manor, or the grounds around the manor.

From time to time, he seemed to have a fit and disappeared for hours on end, only to return marginally calmer. Sometimes he travelled to another country. Other times he killed something. A few times he just went somewhere to observe other people.

"Here," Harrison said to Rabastan three weeks after they had come to live with the Nightmare Lord.

Rabastan took the wrapped object and unwrapped it. It was a glass orb, with a light faintly shining within.

"What does it do?" Rabastan asked.

"It's supposed to have a soothing aura."

"Don't you need it?"

"I hate being soothed," Harrison replied.

"You sure hate a lot of things."

"Of course I do; it's easy to hate things."

Rabastan laughed at that. Sometimes, Harrison said things that sounded so childish, yet completely true. Hate was indeed easy, and Harrison was a prime example of a person who hated a lot of things.

"Thank you," Rabastan said. "Unlike you, I can be persuaded to be soothed when I'm upset."

"I know. That's why I got it for you."

"… Thank you. Truly. It still feels unreal, some mornings. The fact that we don't need to fear falling through a crack of time, of disappearing entirely from our own timeline."

"Do you still feel sad about Lucius and Narcissa?"

"Yes. Draco might need something like this too."

"I already gave him one," Harrison said. "Before I came to find you. He seemed to appreciate it."

"I'm not surprised. But you know, there's something that I've wondered about."

"What is it?" Harrison asked as they began to walk to Rabastan's room.

"We felt your magic through one of the cracks," Rabastan explained. "This you already know. But how could we feel it? It was so powerful, like… like it washed over us."

Harrison seemed to think about it, eyes sliding over the walls and floor as they walked.

"I tried out a spell," he said. "That must have been it. It was supposed to do something with the ground, but it literally back-fired on me. I blacked out, but Elise said it left a crater behind."

The crater they had landed in as they fell through the crack.

"I thought about it, if it was your magic that had done it," Rabastan said. "But then I got a bit busy and I guess I lost track of that thought."

"So I guess the spell wasn't a total failure after all," Harrison said.

"You just said it back-fired on you, and you lost consciousness."

"Yes, yes, but it was that magic that enabled you to come here. To come to me."

"Oh…"

Rabastan nodded.

"But we brought trouble with us," he continued.

"We'll find them soon enough," Harrison said. "And then we'll kill them. Problem solved."

"Killing is really your answer to almost everything, isn't it?"

"I wouldn't be the Nightmare Lord if killing wasn't my answer to most things I encounter."

Rabastan smiled, and opened the door to his room. _His_ room, not some random room in a random house that wasn't splintered into pieces with cracks of time. His own room, that was slowly getting filled with things he enjoyed. He placed the glass orb on the nightstand, and it hovered slightly over the surface. He poked it and it gently moved.

"Uncle Harrison!"

Lucy's yell came from below, and Harrison simply stuck his head out of the room to yell back:

"What, you little devil?"

"George blew something up again!"

"Oh dear, those twins are truly aiming for Severus' poor heart," Harrison muttered as he shook his head. "Good thing I can restart it if he ever gets a heart attack out of anger while chasing them down…"

Then he raised his voice and shouted:

"Severus, you are free to do what you want!"

Rabastan didn't hear what the spell was, but he certainly heard it hit the wall and George's shriek, followed by footsteps. Somewhere, Lucy was laughing.

It was chaos. A different kind of chaos, and one he preferred over the world he had left behind.

 _To be continued…_

* * *

So they are adjusting to their new life.

Chapter five: The hunt for Bones' group continues. What are they up to?

See you guys later,

Tiro


	5. Chapter 5

**Fractured Time**

 **Summary** : Continuation of Birth of a Nightmare Man chapter thirteen, where we left Rabastan and Draco wondering about Harry Potter's fate. But now time has become a strange thing, and their world is dying. How can they escape? Will they ever see Harry Potter again?

 **Pairing/s** : None.

 **Warnings** : Time-travelling and dimension-travelling, some violence and gore. People acting OOC.

 **Disclaimers** : I don't own Harry Potter nor do I make any money on fanfiction.

 _NOTE: Do not re-upload on sites as goodreads or Wattpad, I do not give permission to do so._

-o-

A long time has passed since the last time. Because I can't shake the writer's block. But here it finally is. Enjoy!

 _Fractured Time_ takes place around five years before _The Nightmare Man's Journey._

-o-

 **Chapter Five**

Over a month had passed after Rabastan and Draco had come to live with Harrison, and Bones' group had not been found or even seen. Draco spent a lot of his time in the manor, trying to adjust to a life without the parents he had known his whole life, whilst having gained a different Lucius and Narcissa who cared for him.

But he hadn't met his other self, and Rabastan hadn't met his other self either. As Harry Potter of this dimension lived in the manor, next to his counterpart, they figured that it wasn't like they would go crazy by seeing their past selves. Sure, Harrison could be considered insane, but the younger Harry Potter was very much sane and not going crazy at the sight of his counterpart.

Also, Harrison was a little bit insane back when he started killing his old friends. Back when he had his old name and George's death was fresh on his mind.

Draco had so far rejected offers to meet his other self and Rabastan didn't really care to meet his.

He heard his brother and sister-in-law were alive and well, and that was enough for him. Bellatrix had apparently caused some trouble for Harrison when he first started working with Voldemort, but once he had tortured her she had withdrawn, and now they were on friendlier terms with each other.

Meaning, Voldemort had told them both, Harrison and Bellatrix bonded over torture and killing once it was out of the way that Harrison was a hell of a lot stronger and older than Voldemort, whom Bellatrix respected greatly.

"Isn't it strange, to see them sometimes?" Rabastan asked. "You killed Voldemort. Our dimension's Voldemort."

"I don't think too much about it," Harrison said.

"He's not scared you'll kill him?" Rabastan wondered.

"He knows I think he's too pretty to kill."

"… What?"

"However, Lucius is the one I call pretty," Harrison said. "Very important. Elise and Lucian also have a fondness for Voldemort. Like a pet. That kind of fondness. You just want to pet it."

"You're weirder than before," Rabastan concluded.

"I thought you already knew that."

But yes, Elise and Lucian had no troubles admitting to liking Voldemort as in wanting to keep him, and as Voldemort had his Horcruxes in this dimension, he would be around for a rather long time.

"We're trying to convince master to make Voldemort… not a servant, but long-living like us," Elise said. "He's agreed to ask Voldemort one day."

"What about the kids? The girls? And Harry too, I suppose," Rabastan asked.

"Harry knows he has the option. The girls are a bit too young, and I'm not… I'm not sure it would work on Angel, considering she's a Muggle."

"But he makes you his by putting his magic into your bodies, right?"

"Yes, but I do think our own magic has a part in it," Elise confessed. "He can make dead Muggles move again, but he has never tried to make a servant out of a Muggle."

"So he might have to watch her die?"

"We've always been there for him," Elise said. "He survived the deaths of the four founders."

"Yeah, but they were his friends. This will basically be his daughter, no matter how much he denies any parental bonds with her."

It was also a big, fat lie. Rabastan had seen Harrison and Angel interact. Harrison might not be a normal parent by any means, but he was her parent. He was the one she turned to first whenever she could and had the chance. He taught her letters and how to spell words. As she painstakingly worked her way through a picture book, finger following each word as she read aloud, Harrison listened with rapt attention as if he had never heard anything more fascinating. Every time he praised her, Angel glowed with pride. Also, Harrison never failed to read her a goodnight story and be the last person she saw before she fell asleep.

Elise deflated.

"We know," she said. "We just hope he'll survive it. Losing the four founders was harder than we let others know. He lost the first people that accepted him as the Nightmare Lord. They accepted all of his flaws and bad personality traits, when they didn't need to. He never would have killed them, even if they tried to kill him."

"Because he knew what they would build."

"Yes. He named the castle. They took his suggestion."

So in this universe, Harrison was the influence to Hogwarts' name? Rabastan had already heard about Harrison being the fifth founder, and thus having partial control over Hogwarts' wards. He could tweak them enough to suit his own needs, and the castle would allow it.

"He's weird, but amazing at the same time," Rabastan said. "In Angel's case, she's still young. So is Lucy. I'm sure Harrison will think of something."

"Master always thinks of something, even if it's last-minute," Elise said. "He's learned from the past."

The past where he got himself trapped in an underground prison for a few centuries? Harrison had mentioned it as a pretty big mistake on his part, and apparently the servants remind him of that when he does too many reckless things.

"You mean you tell him about the past when you've had enough of his shenanigans," Rabastan concluded, and Elise didn't protest.

-o-

Voldemort made himself at home at times in one of Harrison's offices, spreading out papers and maps of England. He had drawn the conclusion that Bones' group had not made contact with the rebels in this dimension.

"How are you that certain?" Draco wondered.

He'd gotten more comfortable around Voldemort, but only recently started daring to ask direct questions to the man.

"We're always chasing the rebels. What information we've gathered about them tells us they have not made contact with anyone from another dimension."

"Let's hope not," Harrison said. "Not a lot of people know who I used to be, or that I'm from another dimension. I did tell Dumbledore though, before we killed him."

"Well, you enjoy torturing people to the max, so I'm not surprised you told him," Voldemort replied. "It would be for the best if the group didn't meet up with the rebels."

"How strong are the rebels?" Rabastan asked.

"It's not a matter of strength here. They're clever, and hide well."

"Hermione Granger is one of the rebels," Harrison said. "Such a clever, but annoying know-it-all… just like in my original dimension. Some things never change."

"You didn't kill her along with Dumbledore?" Draco wondered.

"I actually left most of the children alive," Harrison replied. "We probably would've been better off having killed some of them."

"Yes, but we can't be seen as total monsters. As Dark Lords, we already got bad enough reputations."

"But people at the Ministry like you," Harrison said.

"It's because I don't mindlessly kill everyone I have a grudge against," Voldemort said and looked at Harrison.

"I don't do that either! Not anymore at least. Please, I do have some tact."

"It only took you a millennia or so to learn it."

"I'm a slow learner, so what?"

Harrison didn't look too concerned about people finding out who he used to be, or about the rebels to the honest. Voldemort didn't seem surprised. Did Harrison feign indifference, or didn't he care?

"Anyway, the rebels hide and try to get the upper hand to remove our influence, or rather, my influence. Harrison here doesn't care about politics. The only time you show up at the Ministry is if I ask you to come."

"Politics are boring," Harrison replied. "I may have lived in a modern time as a child and teenager, but I was shaped by the old times where laws and such didn't matter much to a person like me."

"You just don't like having to listen to other people," Voldemort said.

"He never did," Draco added on.

"Kept on refusing listening on people ever since you were little," Rabastan said and pointed at Harrison. "I heard it, alright. You drove people mad from the get-go."

"I guess it's a talent."

With that, Harrison got back to looking at the papers with Voldemort. Rabastan looked over a map of northern England, where Voldemort and the Death Eaters had found rebel hide-outs and destroyed them. Houses in the middle of nowhere, but also in both magical and Muggle villages. Well, if the rebels had people like Hermione Granger, who knew both magical and Muggle sides, it was no wonder if they could hide amongst both magical people and Muggles.

"Didn't she design those coins?" Rabastan said.

"Coins?" Harrison wondered.

"You mentioned it, in prison… coins, during your fifth year or so."

"Coins, coins, coins… oh, those coins!" Harrison looked up at the roof. "Oh, yes, she was always a clever one. No doubt is this dimension's Hermione as clever as mine. She's probably also as stubborn, and can't see things from any other perspective than her own."

"Didn't she attack Harry Potter two years ago?" Voldemort said. "With the intent to kill him?"

"Yeah. Ywgraine was with him though, so he didn't get a scratch on him. Wish I or Elise had been there; we would've killed that little brat."

"Ywgraine is more defence-focused," Voldemort explained to Rabastan and Draco. "Instead of being a killing-machine, she made it her main priority to get Harry to safety."

"I suppose that's a good character trait, considering how long she's been with me," Harrison said. "But still, she could've at least cursed Hermione a little bit. You know, ripped off an arm or two."

"Ywgraine is not quite as crazy as you are," Voldemort said.

"But she's not that much younger than me."

"I don't think age plays a part in her personality."

"Time made me crazier," Harrison said.

"Well, you're special," Voldemort replied.

"Somehow, that doesn't sound like a compliment."

"Can you please just go back to the papers?" Voldemort said. "Once you get distracted, you're hopeless."

"What can I say? I seem to have the attention-span of a child."

But Harrison did return to the papers, and they marked several locations where one of them knew there was an abandoned building of some kind. Voldemort made noises about sending out Death Eaters on some discreet checking.

"Just don't send Bellatrix," Harrison said.

"I'm not an idiot. I'll only send her if I want someone tortured or dead."

"You mean tortured _and_ dead."

"Yeah, yeah… might I borrow a servant or two? Elise is very good at finding people."

"Sure, I'll ask her," Harrison said. "Not Joanne though; she's lousy at sneaking."

-o-

Rabastan knew the world he had confined himself in was quite small; he didn't venture outside of Harrison's wards very often. He also knew he probably should get out more. But he was comfortable within the wards, and in Harrison's home.

He didn't need to see the world, not really. He was fine with having a small world in which he spent all of his time. Draco was the same in many aspects, but he ventured out every now and then, testing the limits. He talked to Rabastan about the absence of cracks, how nice it was to walk in a world that hadn't been destroyed with the pockets of time ripping people away from their families.

"Hopefully mother and father ended up somewhere nice," Draco said one evening, when it was just the two of them. "Somewhere where they didn't have to fight."

"For Narcissa's sake, somewhere somewhat in order and clean," Rabastan said. "I didn't know that there existed that many types of cleaning spells until I saw Narcissa clear out that little house we found."

"Mother does hate dust," Draco said with a smile.

"Hate? Despise you mean. The look on her face, that look of utter contempt when she saw dust daring to cross the air in front of her… hilarious."

Draco laughed. He didn't laugh that often when it came to his lost parents, but time was most likely easing the pain. That they talked about Lucius and Narcissa like they were still alive probably helped. No one had mentioned to Draco the possibility of them being dead, and Rabastan wanted to keep it that way.

Perhaps because he also hoped they were alive and well, wherever they had ended up. He hoped they had found a new home. A peaceful time where they could settle down. Lucius, scarred as he was by the war, could perhaps spin some silken lies to gain money, or a house for them both. Rabastan hoped he had. That, or found someone who wanted Lucius' political talents.

So yes, Rabastan stayed in his little world. Until he didn't. It started with Harrison asking him if he wanted to come with him to Diagon Alley.

"Are you buying something?" Rabastan wondered.

"Maybe," Harrison replied. "Apparently I've been in the dungeons for too long, I need to go out around people and not kill them."

"What?"

"Elise's orders. I can get a bit… strange when spending too much time in the dungeons?"

"Is that a statement or question?" Rabastan said.

"I don't know, I've never noticed my behaviour being weirder than normal, but Elise can be insistent and keeps saying fresh air will do me well."

"Why Diagon Alley then?"

"Well, I thought I might slip into Muggle London as well. Still without killing anyone."

"Alright," Rabastan said. "I'll keep an eye on you, I suppose… old man."

Harrison rolled his eyes, but they got on with it, and Rabastan left the comfort of his small world with his friend at his side. Seeing Diagon Alley again was nice though. Being able to walk down the street without worrying about himself was even nicer.

Some people seemed to recognize Harrison. Either they moved away, or they didn't care. Those who moved away… Rabastan couldn't help but look at them a bit closer. Watching them, to make sure they weren't just temporarily retreating before moving in for the kill.

Harrison busied himself with looking through shop windows. At first glance, it didn't look like he was concerned about the attention he was given, but Rabastan soon enough caught him gazing around at the street through the reflection on the windows. When he walked, Harrison's eyes never seemed to flick around; however, he seemed aware of almost everyone around him.

Finally they ducked into a shop. The man at the desk glanced up at them, but didn't react more than that. The people in the shop didn't pay them any attention. Looking around, Rabastan wondered if it was a second-hand store, considering it had books side by side with knick-knacks.

"Lucian loves this place," Harrison confessed. "He always loves places that can hide old history gems. Just to see if he recognizes when it's from. If it's a book, he wants to see how much of it is wrong or interpreted differently."

"I'm guessing that happened more often than not," Rabastan said.

"Of course. History is written by the victors, and they always angle history to their own advantage. I don't care much for that part anymore; I like shiny things."

"You have that in common with Angel."

"Did you just compare me to a five-year old?"

"Maybe I compared a five-year old to you."

"Yeah, no way," Harrison said. "Angel is a sweetheart. She leaves notes for the Dementors, because she can't see them. She doesn't seem to realize yet that they can still see her."

"She leaves them notes? What does she write?"

"Well, I say she leaves notes but in reality, I write them because I can write faster than her."

"And what does Angel have to tell to Dementors?" Rabastan wondered as he picked up a book on healing.

"Not much, really. Just about her day. As if I don't have a Dementor following her to make sure she doesn't get hurt."

"She doesn't mind the cold?" Rabastan said as he looked through the book; Draco would like this one. "I mean, she can feel the cold, right?"

"Yeah, she can. She understands it's from the Dementors so no, she doesn't really mind it. In fact, during the summers both she and Lucy like it."

"Lucy can see them though."

"Yes," Harrison said, picking up something that sparkled in the light. Was it a gem? "She's a bit weird, since she doesn't mind them."

"So you're very weird, because you created them?"

"I thought that was obvious," Harrison said, and kept the sparkly thing in his hand as they moved on. "Are you getting that book for Draco?"

"Yeah, thinking about it. Wait, how did you know it was for him?"

"He might have mentioned he liked reading about healing. Funny, how the roles have changed; he's the kind one now."

"Well, not that kind but compared to you, a lot of people are much tamer. I'm tamer, and I'm not nice."

"I'm nice, sometimes."

Harrison bought the gem, and the book as well, and it didn't take them long before they slipped through to Muggle London. Before they left the magical world behind though, they changed from robes to something more Muggle-appropriated. Harrison let his long hair hang freely, but could pass as a somewhat normal Muggle in his shirt and pants.

They didn't return to the magical world in order to Apparate a few hours later; instead they ducked into an alley and went back home from there. As they landed in front of the manor, Harrison stretched and said:

"I hate to prove Elise right, but I do feel better."

"Fresh air is good, I've heard."

"I don't believe in that. Good company, though… I can believe in good company."

"Flatterer," Rabastan said and slapped Harrison's arm.

"Is it working?" Harrison said.

"Yes, you old git, it's working."

Harrison laughed. Rabastan could hear young Harry's laugh in there.

-o-

Harry knew better than to protest guards when he went to public places and Harrison didn't go with him. After nearly being killed two years prior, he was glad that someone was with him at all times. Someone who was stronger, and could protect him. This time it was Joanne and Louis, two servants he hadn't spent that much time with.

But they were just as friendly as the others, and Louis was quite interested in Quidditch and had genuine questions about the sport. Joanne walked silently beside them, and kept an eye on their surroundings.

Most people knew the Nightmare Lord's servants by now, and also that Harry Potter was on his side. That fact alone made some people avoid him. There were a few who had tried to attack him, but Harrison said that was to be expected. There was always someone who saw themselves as brave and daring… or idiotic.

While neither Louis nor Joanne was as violent and crazy like their master, or like Elise and Lucian, they were effective fighters. Harry didn't know what they considered most important though; protect or attack. Harrison was pretty good at the protecting, if only for the fact he usually killed all of the attackers, or at the very least had them unconscious and on the ground within moments.

Elise and Lucian were much alike their master in this, although they had a bit more restraint than him. Ywgraine however, prioritised escape and the safety of her charge. Joanne and Louis could be like her, or like their master. Harry wondered if it was alright to ask.

But it seemed like such a calm day. Surely he didn't have to ask them about their reactions to an attack. It had been over a year since anyone ever attempted an attack.

Harrison always seemed rather paranoid. Never trusting strangers around him to behave in a timely manner. Thus he was rarely surprised if an attack happened.

Too bad Harry didn't try to be like Harrison this time.

It didn't happen like Harry had seen in Muggle movies, or read in books; calm one moment, chaos the next. It all happened at once. Smoke and windows breaking and Joanne's arm looped cleanly off her body. Before the blood even had a chance to start spraying, Harry was grabbed.

He reacted on instinct, biting down on the hand over his mouth. A yell and he kicked out, going for his wand. But a kick to his elbow shattered the bone, causing him to drop the wand with a howl of pain.

He saw people that looked familiar, yet different, and knew it was the people from the other world. The world where Harrison once came. The world the older Draco and Rabastan came from.

"Go, go, go!" someone yelled, and Harry was taken away.

"People from his world!" Harry screamed where he last had seen Louis and Joanne before the smoke came in. "It's people from his world!"

Then something hard came down on Harry's head, and he blacked out.

 _To be continued…_

* * *

Whelp, those people just made a huge mistake, right?

Chapter six: Harrison is not pleased that someone belonging to him has been kidnapped. He is, in fact, quite angry about it.

See you guys later!

Tiro


	6. Chapter 6

**Fractured Time**

 **Summary** : Continuation of Birth of a Nightmare Man chapter thirteen, where we left Rabastan and Draco wondering about Harry Potter's fate. But now time has become a strange thing, and their world is dying. How can they escape? Will they ever see Harry Potter again?

 **Pairing/s** : None.

 **Warnings** : Time-travelling and dimension-travelling, some violence and gore. People acting OOC.

 **Disclaimers** : I don't own Harry Potter nor do I make any money on fanfiction.

 _NOTE: Do not re-upload on sites as goodreads or Wattpad, I do not give permission to do so._

-o-

Thanks for all the reviews! Writer's block lifted, and I was granted a little bit of inspiration. So I wrote this chapter faster than the others.

 _Fractured Time_ takes place around five years before _The Nightmare Man's Journey._

-o-

 **Chapter Six**

Rabastan had seen Harrison angry before. Had seen him throw temper tantrums and yell at walls. Tear at his own hair, slam his body down onto the floor. Rabastan had even seen him draw blood, either with his bare hands or by smacking his head against the wall. Harrison had many ways to show his anger, both when he was Harry Potter and now as an ancient dark lord.

He had never seen the quiet anger. Yes, he had seen Harry Potter quiet and solemn while also angry, but this… this was different.

The moment Joanne and Louis entered, and Harry didn't follow, Harrison had gone still.

"Where is he?" he said.

Joanne's arm was gone. No, Louis was _holding_ her arm, and her stump was dripping blood steadily but she seemed only paler because of Harrison's question. Her lips wobbled, and Rabastan swallowed.

"Attack," she got out. "At Diagon Alley. They attacked at once, they took my arm and then Harry was gone… master."

Louis reached into a pocket on his robe and took out Harry's wand, hand shaking.

"He most likely dropped it during the struggle," Louis explained.

Harrison didn't move to take the wand. Instead his eyes remained fixed on the wall to the right of the two servants, gently tapping a finger to his lips. The longer he was quiet, the more both Joanne and Louis seemed to shrink into themselves. They huddled close, as if expecting an explosion.

"Why would he have dropped it?" Harrison asked.

"We heard him scream," Joanne explained. "Like he was… hurt."

The walls shivered, and the ground shook beneath their feet. Somewhere, Rabastan heard a vase crashing to the floor. Another shiver and the windows clattered in their frames. Joanne whimpered, and then threw herself onto her knees. Louis wasn't far behind.

"Please forgive us, master!" Joanne begged. "We'll do anything… we'll find him!"

She didn't seem to care her arm had been cut off, or that she was still bleeding. Finally Harrison tore his gaze from the wall, and Rabastan couldn't help the small gasp; Harrison's eyes were near black, and he appeared pale, almost gaunt in his face.

He looked down at the two servants at his feet, and tilted his head.

"Why are you bleeding?" he asked.

Harrison's voice was quiet, and could be mistaken almost as gentle. Rabastan would have preferred it if he was screaming, and he wasn't even the one Harrison was focused on.

"They cut off my arm, master," Joanne said.

"Oh… so they did. Very distracting, isn't it? To lose a limb you're used to have by your side at all times."

"Master…" Joanne said.

"Who are they, now again? I don't think neither of you explained _who_ took Harry."

"We didn't see any faces," Louis said. "But Harry shouted something."

"Did he now? What did he shout?"

"People from his world," Joanne said. "He most likely meant you, master. People from your world."

Bones' group. Rabastan swallowed. Was that good or bad? Did they think Harry Potter was… their Harry Potter? The one who had caused the cracks of time? Or did they know Harrison was their Harry, and that this world's Harry was on Harrison's side?

This was headache-inducing.

"Master…" Joanne began once more.

"Quiet," Harrison said.

He didn't sound… angry. He still wasn't screaming. In fact, his voice had gone oddly silky smooth now. Not as gentle as before, just… Rabastan didn't have words for his tone, and from the looks of it, Joanne and Louis didn't seem to like it.

Joanne was shaking in place. Rabastan himself couldn't move, and didn't blame her for shaking. This calmness was worse than any screaming. He preferred it when Harrison rampaged, threw himself at the floors, because Rabastan knew how to calm him down. This version… he didn't know how to calm down this version of Harrison.

Harrison snapped his fingers at Louis, motioning for the arm. Louis handed it over, not looking at Harrison. He held the arm in his hands, and then said:

"Joanne, get up."

She did, despite the fact she was as white as a sheet. Harrison pulled her in, closer, and with a surge of magic he reattached her arm.

"Have Elise look it over," Harrison said. "Harry's wand."

"Here, master."

"Put it in his room," Harrison said. "He'll want it safe when he gets back."

"Master, we can search for him," Joanne began.

"Go to Elise, Joanne. Louis, Harry's room."

The two nearly fled and Harrison stayed motionless in the middle of the hall. Rabastan realized his friend was staring at the blood trail Joanne had left, from the front door to the small puddle where she had stood.

"Rabastan…" he said.

"Yes?" Rabastan replied, not really wanting to move if that would make Harrison more upset.

"They took Harry."

"They did."

"My Harry. _Mine_."

"Yes… yes, they did."

"People don't just take what's mine," Harrison said, like he genuinely didn't understand why Harry had been taken. "People have tried to take my servants before, my power… how many times do I have to remind all the idiots in the world they can't take what's mine?!"

Now he was screaming, and the manor shook with the force. His eyes were all black, completely blank. The inside of his mouth was black as well, and Rabastan was very much reminded of the Dementors.

As soon as Harrison got visibly upset, he calmed down. The black eyes remained. Rabastan saw the veins turning black beneath the pale skin, saw the nails going grey. As if the anger manifested itself within Harrison's body, when he didn't let it out into the air.

"Lucian!" he called out sharply.

The pale man appeared moments later, rather composed despite the subtle shaking of the entire manor. When seeing the black eyes, Lucian's mouth thinned out and he said:

"Yes, master?"

"Is… Lucy and Angel here?" he asked.

"Severus decided an unprompted visit to a Muggle sweets shop was in order," Lucian said. "They left just as Joanne and Louis came back, and he realized Harry wasn't with them."

"Oh, good… good, good… this whole house-shaking business is a bit too much excitement for two children, don't you think?"

"Yes… master. I heard what happened. What will you do?"

"What will I do? You mean, what will I do about the fact people from my old world dared to snatch something that belongs to me? You mean that?"

Now, Lucian didn't look half as composed as earlier. He cleared his throat nonetheless and said:

"Yes. About that."

"I'll find them of course," Harrison said, and smiled.

Sharks had kinder grins than the one Harrison was showing them.

"I'll find them," he repeated, "and then I'll slaughter them all."

-o-

Harry woke up with a headache, and to the sounds of an argument. Furious whispers and he opened his eyes to a slit. Five people were huddled together in what looked like a shack of a house, and they didn't seem pleased with each other. He recognized one of them as one of the Patil twins. The other dimension's Patil. It looked like Padma, but to the honest, they were so similar he had a hard time telling them apart. It might as well be Parvati, especially from this angle and the fact Harry's eyes weren't exactly opened.

The others were vaguely familiar, another version of students he probably went to school with. As one of them turned to look at him, Harry was careful to keep his eyes mostly closed, and his breathing calm. It was better if they thought him unconscious for now.

"Are you sure it isn't him?" one whispered at last.

"Yes! That isn't our Harry Potter; it's this dimension's Potter."

"You said you were sure it was our Potter!"

"Well, I was until we got a closer look!"

Oh joy. He had been mistaken for Harrison. Great. He wondered how long it would take for Harrison to track these people down, kill them, and then grounding Harry despite the fact he was over twenty years old. Also despite the fact Harrison vehemently denied having anything resembling parenthood within his vast personality, which was a big, fat lie.

Harry looked again. The five were distracted, pale and sweaty. He took the chance to feel how tightly his hands were bound. But he quickly stopped when that made pain radiate throughout one of his arms. Damn, he had forgotten about his elbow.

The groan slipped out from him before he could think to stop it, and someone pulled him up from his half-lying position. He opened his eyes fully, and saw five, pale faces staring at him.

"You're from this world," one said.

"He knows that already!" Patil said. He still didn't know which one. "You, Potter, have you seen another you walking around?"

"You're talking about Harrison," Harry replied.

He might as well be honest. It wasn't like these people would live long enough to tell the entire world. If he was lucky, they wouldn't be able to tell anyone else before Harrison found this place.

How would Harrison find this place? Harry never questioned how Harrison found people. He knew the rebels evaded both the Nightmare Lord as well as Voldemort, though. What if these people were as good?

They didn't look to have that much planned. They looked, in fact, very much like they didn't have a plan at all.

"Harrison?" one said.

"We should've told Madam Bones we were going to do this!" a third hissed.

"Too late for that now," Patil said. "What do you mean, Harrison?"

"His name. He's Harrison now."

"So he made it to this world."

"Yes," Harry said. "He made it. I guess, I don't really know how and so, but he's… here."

They were Harrison's enemies. Was it bad to let them know he knew Harrison? Well, it was too late now to take it back.

"Where is he?" Patil demanded.

"At his home?"

"Where is that, then?"

"Look, he's got it warded to hell and back. Not even I can find it."

Technically true, he could Apparate to inside the wards, but they didn't need to know that part. Harry was reckless, and didn't always think things through, but he wasn't so stupid that he revealed he could Apparate straight through the wards of their enemy.

Harrison might do that, and then refuse to Apparate just to be difficult, but Harry wasn't Harrison.

"So we need to get him outside the wards," Patil said to the others. "The people who were with you, Potter, why did they try to protect you?"

"They… work for Harrison."

"So you're important?"

"He's invested some time in me, I'm sure he'd be disappointed if I died too soon," Harry said.

They drew back, whispering amongst one another. Harry was fine with being bait. If he was bait that meant Harrison would come here. If Harrison came here, those five would be dead within a heartbeat… or a year, depending how long Harrison wanted to torture them for taking what belonged to him.

-o-

A note was delivered to Lucius, addressed to the Nightmare Lord, confirmed by spells to be written by Harry Potter. As Lucius knew Harry had been taken he didn't waste any time; he left the Ministry early and went straight to Harrison's manor to hand it over. Possibly running away afterwards, in case Harrison felt like killing the messenger.

The manor seemed darker, somewhat, and as Lucius looked around on the walls they appeared to lean over him. Caging him in.

"It's master's magic," Lucian said from the doorway. "It's agitated. Why are you here, pretty?"

"Does every one of Harrison's servants call me that?" Lucius wondered.

"Well, you are pretty," Lucian said. "This might not be a good time for a visit."

"I have a note for your master," Lucius replied. "It was confirmed to have been written by Harry Potter."

"Oh. That changes everything, then. Follow me."

Lucian took him to a smaller room, and Harrison looked up from the desk. Lucius had never seen the Nightmare Lord look like that, pale with black veins beneath his skin. His eyes were a bit sunken in, black as the night, and when he parted his lips Lucius saw the inside of his mouth was black as well.

If Dementors could look human, then Harrison was like a human Dementor at this moment. Maybe not so strange considering he made them.

"Note written by Harry," Lucian said.

Harrison vanished and reappeared in front of Lucius, plucked the note from his slack fingers and read it right then and there. His fingernails were grey, and the tips of his fingers were turning black as well.

"It's a location," Harrison said. "They're using Harry as bait to get to me."

"Is that… a bad thing?" Lucius whispered to Lucian.

"As bait… as… as if he's a… _thing_ ," Harrison continued. "A thing, Lucian."

"Yes, master, that's very bad of them to use Harry as if he was a thing."

"Don't patronize me."

"Yes, master, I won't, it's just… you're making the furniture float?"

They slammed down onto the floor with a bang, papers scattering everywhere. Maps, where he apparently had tried to pinpoint Harry's location, rolled up. Harrison looked at the note again and repeated:

"Bait. Bait! Harry is not a thing, he's not bait!"

"But they handed over their location," Lucian hurried to say.

"Yes, they did. You know what they also had Harry write? That I was to be killed for my crimes! What kind of idiots fell through to this dimension? Do they think? Do they have brains? How stupid is this?"

"They must think you aren't very powerful, master," Lucian said. "After all, the people from your dimension who did get to know you are the Nightmare Lord is now dead. Except for Rabastan and Draco, because they're special."

"Oh… that is true. So, what, they think that I'm the same age as the last time they saw me?"

"Possibly?" Lucian said.

Lucius had turned into air. Maybe literally. He was almost standing between Harrison and Lucian, and they didn't seem to even notice him anymore.

"Well, that means they're still stupid! They couldn't kill me back then, what makes them think they can kill me now?"

"You can always go and ask them."

"I think I will," Harrison said. "And then I'll kill them. Using what's mine as bait, that's unforgivable!"

"But wanting to kill master is apparently fine," Lucian muttered as Harrison returned to the desk to get his outer robe.

"People have tried to kill me hundreds of times, Lucian, it's old news, and it's funny when they try and fail."

"Are you going alone, master?"

"It's not like you'll let me go alone," Harrison replied.

Lucius got out of the way for Harrison to go out of the room, flattening himself against the wall. That had Harrison notice him again.

"Why does he look so… concerned?" Harrison asked Lucian.

"Your eyes, master. And you skin. And the veins."

"Oh. Not much I can do about that now, not until I've got some blood on my hands. Elise? Elise! We're going out! Get your spiky boots on!"

Elise hurried down the stairs as they came to the entrance hall. Spiky boots were on, and Lucius decided not to wonder how many people had possibly been kicked to death with the help of those boots.

"Where are we going, master?" she said.

"To kill some idiots and get Harry back," Harrison said.

-o-

The location was a remote house, more like a shack than anything else. The walls were barely standing and the roof had several holes in it. A lone curtain fluttered in the wind that went right through one of the numerous broken windows.

And they had put Harry in this hole? Harrison was going to murder them _twice_.

He could admit to himself he wasn't exactly thinking clearly, and it was probably a good thing that Elise was there in case he made an idiotic mistake, but he needed to go alone first.

"Stay hidden," he told Elise. "I'll call on you if needed."

"What if they destroy your vocal chords?" Elise said. "Or crush your windpipe?"

"I'm sure I'll find a way to let you know if I need any assistance."

With that, he moved out of the shadows and up towards the shack. Halfway there, five people stepped out of the building. No Harry. Was he inside? Harrison felt for his magic, but found wards instead. So they had been clever enough to erect wards around the shack, leaving him blind as to how many there were in the building?

He could tear the wards down. But that could endanger Harry. Harrison was pretty sure he could raise Harry from the dead, but if he could avoid it that would be preferable. So should he wait? Should he find out how many they were inside the wards?

"Only five of you?" he asked.

"The others will be here soon!" one yelled.

He was promptly elbowed in the side by one of the others. Harrison tilted his head. So there was only five? Or was it a trick? Poking at their minds, he found shields. He could tear those down too.

"Why did you take Harry Potter?" he said instead.

"It doesn't matter to you," another said.

Should he know their faces? Because he didn't recognize them now. Well, one was similar to the others he had seen from Bones' group. Patil?

"Why not?"

"You're Harry Potter from our dimension."

"If you insist."

"But you're older," the Patil girl said.

"Yes, that does tend to happen when the years pass," Harrison replied. "You get older."

"Doesn't matter now. Do you know what you did? To our world? What chaos you created? How many people we've lost?!"

"I do know," he said.

"And?"

He didn't recognize the woman who said that. She seemed to be the same age as Patil, meaning she could've been in school the same time he did. But he never did look much at other students, too busy with himself and all the things happening around him.

"It sounds very chaotic," he told her. "You must have been miserable."

"We were."

"Good. I love to make people miserable. Now where is Harry? Is he inside?"

"You're going to pay for your crimes."

"Lovely. Get in line."

"What?"

"Seriously, get in line. There are a lot of people who want me to pay for my crimes. So he is inside? Did you hurt him?"

"What does it matter to you?" Patil asked, wand out and aimed at him.

"I took him in years ago," Harrison said. "He's mine."

Should he risk tearing the wards down? But then he saw movements, and Elise hadn't stayed in place. Instead she was climbing in through a window. Bless her soul, she never could leave someone else's wards alone. That meant she would take care of whoever was inside, and help Harry.

Good enough. Harrison rolled his shoulders and said:

"So, what now?"

"We're taking you to be judged."

"In my experience, it's just easier to kill people on the spot."

"We're not like you!" Patil yelled. "We aren't senseless, cruel murderers!"

"Where's your sister?" he asked.

She flinched.

"Which one are you again? I never could tell the difference."

"You know where Padma is?" she wanted to know.

"Yes," he said. "I left her corpse as a nice meal for the Inferi. They were very grateful to have some nice flesh to chew on."

Patil, Parvati's face crumpled, just like he wanted it to. Then she screamed, and flung a spell at him. He dodged it, and then he heard:

" _Avada Kedavra_!"

The green light came rushing at him. He dove out of the way from the first one. The second one was so close he felt its effects barely grab hold of him, and the third knocked him over. The killing spell was funny. Sometimes it took hold and he vanished into darkness for a while. Other times, he was just in pain.

This time, he rolled around, gasping for breath as the pain travelled through his nerve system.

"How is he not dead?!" someone screamed.

"I have Harry, master!"

Elise's voice made him look up. Harry was with Elise, one of his arms in a weird angle. Harrison pushed against Harry's mind, _broken bone, elbow on fire, pain shooting up along the arm_ , and he howled. They _dared_ to hurt what was his.

The wards fell. It was just the five of them. If someone was coming, they wouldn't arrive in time, because Harrison was moving. No nice, neat killing spells. Not any spells. He poured magic into his arms, his hands, made them stronger than humanly possible and tore.

Patil's wand arm was first. It flew through the air and she screamed. He moved on, plunged his arm through someone's chest and pulled out a lung. Patil was coming up from behind, so he turned and kicked her in the face, adding magic to his leg. She fell backwards, blood gushing out of her broken nose.

One man he slammed to the ground. Once down, he dug his fingers through flesh and ignored the screams. He broke the sternum, and pried the ribcage open when Patil, despite her lost arm and broken nose, jumped on his back.

A knife found itself in between his ribs, and the blade punctured his lung. Harrison kept on moving, and soon felt the familiar sensation of blood coming up his throat. He let the blood bubble out of his mouth and nose, and grinned wide.

Everyone was injured. Patil lost her leg. He broke someone's jaw and ripped out their tongue. Another he punched until he reached bone and brain, and then he stumbled back, knife still in his chest. Patil was trying to drag herself away. Couldn't she Apparate? If she couldn't, then that meant Elise had erected some wards of her own. Good.

The man with his ribcage open was moaning faintly. The man with his skull bashed in was twitching, but not more than that. Another man laid a bit away, neck twisted in a weird, sharp angle.

The unknown woman was still standing. She had a nosebleed, and one hand was torn open. She was hunched over, and Harrison faintly remembered a kick delivered to her ribs.

"Why aren't you dead?" she asked now.

"Because I'm as immortal as you get," he replied.

"Monster…"

"Aren't we all?" He spread his arms. "Come on. Give it your best shot. Maybe I'll stay down. Maybe I won't. People, throughout history, kept trying. Trying to keep me down on the ground. Perhaps they should've chopped me into tiny, little pieces. It would have taken me a while to recover from that."

She sobbed sharply, once, before drawing herself up to her full height. There was something cold and hard in her eyes. Harrison smiled.

"That's the look," he said. "That's a fierce look. I like it. Come on."

She may have been an idiot, but she had guts and she didn't back down. She didn't rush at him without a plan. Instead she took her wand in her non-injured hand, and looked around. She didn't have any back-up. Patil was too injured to help anyone, and she was still trying to crawl away.

"Don't let her get outside your wards," he told Elise, pointing at Patil.

"Master, the knife…"

"A punctured lung has never stopped me from fighting before," he replied.

Elise nodded, mouth tight, and kept her body between the unknown woman and Harry, whose face had relaxed. She must have started the healing process on him, or at least numbed the pain until she could do so.

"He's important to you," the woman said. "You're caring for yourself?"

"He's not me," Harrison said. "I'm not him. But yes, he's important. He will always be important."

"I don't stand much of a chance, do I?"

"You don't stand any chance," he corrected. "You will die here."

She nodded. She was young, he supposed. Perhaps too young to die a violent death. But young people died too. George from his dimension died young, so did Fred. So did numerous others. Life wasn't fair that way.

"Make it quick at least," she said.

He usually didn't like it when people just gave up. But he could be a merciful killer at times. He moved, had his hand around her throat before she could even flinch. His magic flowed into her body, took over, and she was dead in moments. Her life force taken away before she even noticed and Harrison let her body fall to the ground.

"I didn't even get to use my boots," he heard Elise say.

"There will be other chances," Harrison said. "Or you could use it on Patil. Her crawling is pathetic."

Patil had enough in her to scream when Elise kicked her over, and when Harrison looked one of her boots was covered in blood. Before Patil could begin crawling again Elise was there, one boot on her chest.

"What shall we do with her, master?"

He wanted to kill Patil, just for the hell of it. But information was good. Information came first, he supposed, and Harrison walked over to them. He gripped Patil's head and without warning, dove into her mind.

She screamed as he broke her shields and took every memory she had, ripping them apart in search for the rest of the group. He saw Bones in a house, but they changed locations often. The house would be abandoned at this point.

Discussions of where their Harry Potter was. The five had acted on their own. Bones hadn't cleared the kidnapping of Harry Potter, hadn't even gone so far to even discuss it. It was funny; they thought they had gotten their Harry Potter, but realizing they had the wrong version they sent a note to Harrison instead of going to Bones. If they had gone back to their group, they wouldn't be here right now. Three dead, two dying.

"Master?"

"What?"

"The man with the ribcage open… what are we to do with him?"

Harrison pulled away from Patil's thoughts. She gave him some insight, but no location of the group which was disappointing. She was garbling, foaming at the mouth. Did he break her too much? Oops.

He turned to look at the man.

"He's still alive?"

"Yes," Elise said.

"Oh." Harrison snapped his fingers, and the man's heart exploded. "Now he's not."

"Harrison, what's wrong with your eyes?"

Harry kneeled down by Harrison's side now, and Harrison could feel the strain in the eyes. He could feel the blackness pulsating through his veins, and seeing Harry up close… helped. He put his hand on Harry's cheek, and then down so he could feel the pulse. He left a smear of blood behind, but Harry didn't seem too bothered by it.

Once he could feel Harry's pulse, the blackness beneath the skin began to recede. The strain on his eyes lessened, and the world exploded in colours. He hadn't even noticed the colours vanishing.

"I'm alright," Harry said. "It's not like they were going to kill me."

"You couldn't have known that."

"They aren't you, Harrison. They're the good guys."

"The good guys can kill people at first sight too," Harrison insisted. "Ow."

"Oh, now you notice the knife?" Harry wanted to know.

"I had other things on my mind," Harrison said and pulled the knife out.

Once the foreign object was gone, the wound began to heal. He wasn't sure how much blood he had lost, but a fair amount seemed to have leaked out of his mouth and nose during the fight.

"Can we go home now?" Harry wondered.

"Yes. Also, you're grounded."

"Fucking knew that…"

-o-

Rabastan came to Harrison's room, and found the door ajar. He pushed it open, knocked on it a few times to let Harrison know someone was coming.

A trail of bloodied clothing led to the bathroom. Harry was laid out on the bed, bruises on his skin but deeply asleep under the covers.

"In here, Rabastan," came Harrison's voice from the bathroom.

He was in the bath when Rabastan entered. He hadn't gotten around to do more than sit down in the water, Rabastan figured once he saw the dried blood on Harrison's face, shoulders and hands.

"I think I have brain bits in my hair," Harrison complained.

His eyes were green again. His skin was not as pale, and there were no black veins. He seemed like himself again, complaining about the strangest things and… did he just say brain bits?

"You're hopeless," Rabastan concluded, sat down on the edge and helped him look for said brain bits.

He did find a few, along with bone, and some blood. Harrison eventually stopped helping, just sitting and letting Rabastan do whatever he wanted.

"How's Harry?" Rabastan asked.

"Alright, considering the circumstances," Harrison said. "I grounded him."

"You know, it's not his fault he got kidnapped."

"No, but grounding him means people will have less chance of kidnapping him again."

"Who was it?"

"Five from Bones' group, I only recognized Patil. They acted on their own."

"And?"

"If they sent for back-up, all the back-up will find are corpses."

"I guess that's to be expected," Rabastan said as he poured water over Harrison's hair.

The water was turning pink. Harrison moved his hands through the water, created swirls, and the blood vanished along with the bits of brain and bone.

"How do you do that?" Rabastan asked.

"Do what?"

"That magic. You're just… you just make things happen without words, or a wand."

"I haven't used a wand for quite some time. My magic… it reacts to what I want to have done. I can't explain how I do it. I think it, and it's being… done?"

With such ease. Perhaps it got easier the older you became. Perhaps Harrison was just special. Perhaps he didn't give a shit about his own limitations and just moved on with no regards to how magic should work, because impossible things didn't seem so impossible when it was Harrison who did them.

"Alright," Rabastan said, letting it go. "I'll get you some fresh clothes, why don't you finish cleaning up?"

"Is that how mothers sound like?"

"Do I look like your mother?"

"Hmm, get red hair and we'll see."

Rabastan snorted and slapped the back of Harrison's head before leaving him to finish up. He found clothes in a walk-in closet, and put a fresh set just inside the bathroom door. Before Harry was accidentally woken up by either one of them, Rabastan left.

Harrison found him minutes later.

"I thought you went to bed," Rabastan said.

"I'm not that tired just yet," Harrison said. "I would only have woken up Harry anyway."

"Why was Harry in your bed?"

"He said he felt safer in there. Stupid really, my manor is secure but if that's where he wants to sleep, I won't complain."

Harrison sat down.

"Elise told me about the knife," Rabastan continued.

"Figures…"

"No lasting damage, I presume?"

"Lung's fine," Harrison said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "I'll regain the blood soon enough."

"No further information about the rest of them?"

"Nothing that will help me find them. Why must they be clever and keep on moving?"

"You don't like a challenge?"

"Normally, I would, but I think I'm tired of challenges this decade. I just want things to be done."

"This decade?"

"It changes. Maybe. Perhaps it just a few years. Did I like challenges when I just got out of the prison? I can't remember now."

"Is your memory that bad?"

"Not always," Harrison said. "I'm a bit light-headed to be honest."

"That's the blood loss speaking. You need to sleep."

"But I'm not tired. Or am I?"

"Bed."

"Oh, fine, if you insist."

Harrison let himself be pulled up and walked upstairs. Outside his bedroom, he stopped.

"Were you scared of me?" he asked Rabastan. "When Joanne and Louis came back without Harry?"

"A little bit," Rabastan said. "Not scared you would hurt me, or them, but… you can be scary."

"I don't usually get that angry anymore," Harrison said. "It was easier before. I had quite the temper. I suppose I still do, if the anger manifested itself in my body like that."

"Oh, you have a temper," Rabastan said. "Last week you threw yourself against the wall for a half-hour."

"That was just passing the time."

"And had nothing to do with the fact your potion didn't work out the way you hoped?"

"My potions never do, if I got upset every time they weren't successful I'd be having temper tantrums daily."

"I suppose it's a good thing you got Severus then."

"The best." Harrison opened the door. "Well, I'm off to bed then… not that it's late or anything."

"Just go to sleep."

"What if I don't want to sleep once I'm in there?"

"Try harder then. You're light-headed, you need the rest."

"Again, is that what a mother sounds like?"

Rabastan realized no matter what he said next, he might very well end up sounding like his own mother, and judging by the look on Harrison's face, he seemed to know it too.

"You fucking bastard, go to sleep like a normal person."

"Not normal," Harrison said, smiling. "If I'm still asleep tomorrow, wake me up?"

"Sure."

"Just want to make sure I don't sleep for too long. I did that once. I was just taking a nap, and I woke up three months later."

"Alright, I take it back about normal. You're definitely weird, but I wouldn't have you any other way."

With that, Rabastan shoved Harrison into the bedroom, and stayed in the doorway until Harrison was settled. Harry woke up briefly, and mumbled something.

"Yes, it's just me," Harrison said. "Now, don't go blaming me if Angel jumps on your stomach tomorrow morning."

"It's just you she does it to," Harry muttered, nearly buried beneath the blankets. "Because you're her favourite."

"She has a funny way of showing it."

Both of them were asleep within minutes, and Rabastan eased the door close. As he turned, Elise was there.

"He's asleep," Rabastan said. "Now, I know he said he didn't get any information about their whereabouts but… how about we go look for them anyway?"

Elise grinned.

-o-

Amelia Bones had not stopped to question what they were doing. What they were trying to accomplish. If they were trying to accomplish anything.

Falling through the crack to another dimension had been a strange feeling. For a moment after landing, she had been thrilled to see whole landscapes. She was overwhelmed with gratitude and guilt, gratitude for having escaped the hell her world had become, and guilt for leaving some behind.

But the new world hadn't brought her much comfort, once she started to learn about it. The Ministry was in the hands of Voldemort, who was alive and well. The Minister was Lucius Malfoy, a slippery man who probably could be trusted as much as her dimension's Lucius. Which means, not trusted at all.

There was also another person. She hadn't seen him herself. The Nightmare Lord. A whispered title, more secretive than Voldemort. An ancient lord, she was told the few times she spoke to people not in her group.

It was said this old lord ruled over people by fear. He attacked people at random. Killed people at random. There was no goal, no sense of his actions. He killed, and he tortured. No meaning. Little to no message. So he was worse than Voldemort.

And he was still alive! Bones heard people doubting it, saying he was an impostor while others said they had seen him injured beyond repair. Apparently he had lost both lungs and his heart, and still lived.

So this dimension was no better than the old one and she had lost almost half of the group already. They had gone after Lucius, the first group and disappeared, and then five more had decided to find and take Harry Potter. Only they kidnapped the wrong one.

They had assumed it was their dimension's Harry Potter, only to realize their mistake. She wondered how they made that mistake; she had seen this dimension's Harry Potter and he looked nothing like theirs. Had they forgotten that their Harry Potter had changed? Or had they not seen him since he was a teenager?

Did it matter now, she wondered, as she looked at the remains of the five people who had taken Harry Potter. He was nowhere to be seen, and the five people were dead. In pieces.

The violence told her it was their dimension's Harry Potter, no doubt about it. The violence also told her… the violence suggested to her, in the gentlest of terms, it was the work of this Nightmare Lord. Apparently he liked violence. He could tear people apart. Rip their limbs one by one, and laugh at people's despair.

But it couldn't be. Harry Potter couldn't be the Nightmare Lord. Could he?

Bones wondered if they should stop. Just get on with their lives someplace else, outside of England. It would be safer for them all, and would also let them live longer. But she couldn't suggest that. She was their Minister, and she needed to keep on fighting.

Fighting a Ministry who seemed perfectly content with Lucius Malfoy as their Minister. Fighting a Ministry who was fine with Voldemort as an advisor. Mind, he didn't seem as insane as he was in their world. But he was friends with the Nightmare Lord, and the Nightmare Lord was dangerous.

"What should we do, minister?"

 _Give up_ , she wanted to say. _How about we just give up?_

They wouldn't survive like this. Even if she wanted to stop Harry Potter, she knew none of them were strong enough.

"We'll retreat for now," she said instead.

"There's something wrong with the people in this dimension. How can they just accept Voldemort and Malfoy?"

"People adapt. Especially to governments, when the changes aren't radically different from what they already know."

"But it's wrong!"

"Not in this world."

 _Just give up_ , she desperately wanted to yell. She was tired. What was the point of finding their dimension's Harry Potter? What could possibly be solved by finding him? What was the point of killing Lucius Malfoy? That wouldn't do them any good. No one would just step up and say she should take over the position.

Their existence here was pointless, and yet Bones couldn't say they should give up. Because they wouldn't listen anyway, her group. What was left of her group. They wanted justice. They wanted their old lives back.

Neither of that was possible. Bones sighed, and said:

"Let's bury the bodies. Then we'll figure out what we should do."

She had chased after the Malfoys for years after Potter disappeared. She had strength, back then. But now it was gone. She was just going through the motions.

Would she find that strength again, when it all seemed so meaningless in the end?

 _To be continued…_

* * *

Bones isn't as convinced of their cause as the others in her group. But will it stop them?

Chapter seven: Harrison decides to give Bones' group what they want; him. Because what could go wrong, when the Nightmare Lord plays bait?

See you guys later,

Tiro


	7. Chapter 7

**Fractured Time**

 **Summary** : Continuation of Birth of a Nightmare Man chapter thirteen, where we left Rabastan and Draco wondering about Harry Potter's fate. But now time has become a strange thing, and their world is dying. How can they escape? Will they ever see Harry Potter again?

 **Pairing/s** : None.

 **Warnings** : Time-travelling and dimension-travelling, some violence and gore. People acting OOC.

 **Disclaimers** : I don't own Harry Potter nor do I make any money on fanfiction.

 _NOTE: Do not re-upload on sites as goodreads or Wattpad, or any other site for that matter. I do not give permission to do so._

-o-

Life is a soul-sucking force and I don't like it. Fanfiction writing is slow due to this, but this story is not abandoned. How could I ever abandon our dear Nightmare Lord?

Enjoy!

 _Fractured Time_ takes place around five years before _The Nightmare Man's Journey._

-o-

 **Chapter Seven**

It took less than two days for Harrison to fully recover. Harry was fine, a bit tender perhaps but the bruises were fading fast. He was still grounded.

"It's not like I even want to go out right now," Harry said.

"Still grounded," Harrison said even as Angel climbed all over him.

Their outing to the sweet shops was the last one Harrison would allow for a while, at least until he had taken care of the rest of Bones' group, and Angel was fine with it as long as she could annoy her favourite person.

Lucy sat on the arm of the chair where Harrison was seated, feet on his thigh while she read aloud from a potions book.

"When can I do this one?" she asked every once in a while, pointing at a recipe.

"With me? Never. Ask Severus."

"Why don't you ever want to make potions with me?" Lucy wondered.

"I don't usually measure things."

"And?"

"Which means I usually end up damaging myself when I try to make potions," Harrison replied. "Last time half of my face melted off. That stung. A lot, actually."

"Half of your face?" Lucy said. "Why didn't we see that?"

"It was in the middle of the night, and the damage was healed by the morning. I said it was fine, it was a good chance for you to learn about the skull and such but Elise wouldn't have it."

"She's so boring sometimes," Lucy said.

Harrison agreed, and Harry said:

"You're making her weird."

"I'm making her curious, there's a difference."

"Weird," Angel mumbled, sitting on Harrison's shoulder.

"Yes, alright, a little weird. We're both weird, little Angel. Am I your tree?"

"Too small."

"Yes, I'm not a very large tree. Just don't go climbing the trees in the tree garden. They're too violent."

"They smash," Angel said.

"Oh yes, they smash people."

"You're making her weird too," Harry said.

"I make everyone weird. You're weird."

"Stop saying weird," Rabastan muttered.

"You're weird," Harrison countered with, like the mature adult he wasn't.

Rabastan rolled his eyes, and turned page in the newspaper. Angel eventually got tired of climbing Harrison and flopped down onto his lap while Lucy was writing up what kinds of potions she wanted to try.

Soon however, the two girls ganged up and demanded stories. Harrison sighed, as if he was suffering greatly from this whole ordeal, and had Harry fetch him a book that was mostly safe for children.

"What about the parts that isn't safe?" Rabastan wondered.

"I won't read them out loud," Harrison replied. "Have you never read to a child?"

"No, I bloody well haven't. You then, big, bad Dark Lord? You read to children often?"

"According to said children, not often enough," Harrison said.

"Read," Lucy said to him.

"Yeah, read!" Angel agreed.

"Alright, you little devils, hang on… let's see, let's see here… nope, that passage is no good."

Harrison scanned the pages before he began to read. It was actually a children's tale, which made Rabastan wonder if they were all children's tales, and if so, why the hell was there bits that weren't safe for children? Or was it a book that had just one children's tale in it?

The book cover offered nothing. Most of them didn't. Rabastan had found out that some of them were indeed a jumble of different texts, ranging from stories to potions to historical events, so it may very well be a book like that.

It was a bit weird. But then again, the word seemed perfectly in tune with everything within Harrison's home.

-o-

Now, Rabastan didn't know much about this new world he had ended up in. Going with Elise to try and find Bones' group had helped to expand what little knowledge he had already learned.

Mostly about rebels though, because boy did they have a lot of rebels in this world. It was a fine line Lucius and Voldemort wandered on, trying to keep everyone happy while also capturing rebels that threatened said happiness.

Harrison was no help. Well, he had been a little bit of a help, mainly by not killing people at random and in excess amount after Dumbledore had been killed and the Ministry had gained Lucius as Minister of Magic.

People had throughout time learned about the Nightmare Lord and his immortality, and feared him. But Elise told Rabastan that once he had been captured and imprisoned for hundreds of years, people forgot him to the point he's never mentioned in any books.

"People usually forget him," she said one time. "In time, when he's calm, they forget. Then they are reminded, and fear him, before they forget once more."

This time around, he was associated with great violence and a lot of death. He was chaos, an unforgiving killer and people saw him as that. Having not acted that way in five years, already people had begun to doubt him.

"They have shorter memories than people had a thousand years ago," Harrison complained when Rabastan brought it up. "Back in the day, they would remember at least for an entire generation who I was, even if I didn't kill a village every week or so. Now they doubt me within five years? People are idiots."

The rebels didn't seem to do much about it, but who knows? Elise said that Lucius and Voldemort suspected a lot of rebels worked in the Ministry, or around it, and could easily have started rumours. It could be one who was on their side, as well. Not a lot of people saw Harrison anyway; he didn't go to the Ministry unless strictly necessary, and seemed more like a shut-in that anything else.

"So what if I like to stay indoors all day?" Harrison said. "I built my house to stay in it, why should I leave when I don't have to?"

"Then don't complain when people forget, master," Lucian had replied.

"They forget anyway, it's like the entire country has a bad memory when it comes to me."

While most of the rebels remained nameless, there were a few names that came back every so often. Harry's former friends were amongst those names, and none of them had been seen for years. So there were some rebels who had to stay in hiding, since they made sure everyone knew they didn't agree with Voldemort and Lucius.

Still, no signs of Bones making contact with any rebels. Rabastan wondered why. Wouldn't it be to her advantage to do so? She may not know that Harrison used to be their Harry Potter, but Rabastan didn't think the rebels would refuse her. They would help her even.

So why didn't she? Was it because they had gone into hiding after what Harrison did to those who captured Harry? Was she trying to… escape or something like that? Expect that they would be forgotten?

Harrison didn't let them do that for long, because eventually he threw up his hands and said:

"Not doing this anymore."

"Not doing what?" Rabastan said. "I thought you liked wood-carving?"

"Oh, not the carving, I'm fine with the carving, but with this whole group from my dimension-thing."

"That thing. What are you going to do about it then?"

"No," Elise said as Harrison opened his mouth.

"I'll be fine!" Harrison exclaimed.

"Master, you're not playing bait."

"I will be fine, Elise, stop worrying so much."

"Master…"

"I'm doing it," Harrison decided. "Besides, I need my exercise."

"No, you don't," Elise said. "You barely eat, and you run around the manor all day every day anyway."

"I need fresh air?"

"So open a window."

"I'd like some sunshine?"

"I'll shine a light in your eyes until you remember you hate the sun, master."

"She's so stubborn," Harrison told Rabastan.

"Yeah," he replied. "No idea who she gets that from."

"Oh, shut up. I'm playing bait, and that's the end of the conversation."

"Bait?" Angel said. "Like fish?"

"Yes, I'm going fishing," Harrison told her.

"But… fish don't bite you."

"They will if I agitate them enough," he replied.

Angel frowned, looking adorably confused with that bow in her hair that Ywgraine had put in that morning. Obviously she was thinking about real fishes. Harrison however, only clapped his hands in delight and dashed from the room. Elise abandoned her work and ran after him. Rabastan wasn't about to just let him go either so he said:

"Angel, don't worry about it. We'll be fine."

"Uncle Harrison is always fine," she said, turning back to her colouring book. "Even when he's acting stupid."

"Yeah, tell me about it."

Harrison had already gone outside by the time Rabastan made it, but due to Elise and Lucian holding him back, he hadn't gotten that far from the manor.

"Come on, what's the worst that can happen?" he said.

"You losing!" Elise snapped.

"Even if I lose half of my body, it'll be fine, you're all stalking me anyway so once they fallen for it, you can just kill them!"

"Master, last time you lost half your body you were in a magical coma for over a year!"

"Well, I won't be dead! Come on, isn't it better to lure them all out thinking they've got me, slaughter the lot of them and then relax?"

"Why does he make things like that sound so easy?" Rabastan asked Elise, who was digging her heels in, so Harrison couldn't run off.

"Because master never thinks."

"I do think!" Harrison protested. "At least one time out of five."

"Doubtful."

Harrison spluttered, trying to wriggle free. He could just sever their arms and be freed that way, it wasn't like it would be permanent damage on their parts, but he didn't seem to want to hurt them.

"Well, if you're so worried about me having my body torn apart, move in before they do that," he tried with.

"You really think he's gonna stop?" Rabastan asked Elise and Lucian.

"Well, in my most magical dreams he might," Elise said.

"Sassy, where does this sassy attitude come from? Is it Rowena? Did Rowena teach you that?"

"Master, please stop struggling."

"Also, the calmness, the calmness is so wrong! I didn't teach you that."

"That was Rowena," Elise replied. "Now, if you insist on playing bait… let us plan it first."

"Oh, so you'll let me?"

"I have no other choice," she said.

Harrison stopped struggling, and the two servants let him go. He didn't try to dash away at least.

"If you play bait, we will follow," Elise said.

"Me too," Rabastan said. "And if you really want to lure them in, you should look a bit like your old self."

"I don't?"

"No, mate, you don't. If it wasn't for your eyes, I would have a hard time recognizing you."

"Oh. Suppose I have to change that. No point in playing bait if I don't look the part."

-o-

They were hiding in an old, abandoned house near the coast when Bones was interrupted in her thinking by a man rushing into the room.

"The Minister is planning!" one said.

"Minister, we saw Potter!"

"You saw him?" she said. "How sure are you?"

She suspected Harry Potter of their dimension to be this dimension's Nightmare Lord due to the similarity of their cruel actions, but hadn't found a picture of the Nightmare Lord to even begin comparing their looks.

"I swear on my life and magic that it was our Harry Potter!"

"And he looked like he did last we saw him in our dimension?" she asked.

"A little older, but that's all," the man said.

"What was he doing?"

"I wasn't close enough to hear what he was saying, and he kept glancing around him. He probably knows we're here, and he's nervous!"

 _He killed Dumbledore, and remained as arrogant as ever. I'm not sure he knows how to be nervous anymore_. Bones tried to find her strength, tried to find the will to make plans.

Not much would change if they did manage to kill their Harry Potter. They were still in a strange dimension, surrounded by a government led by Lucius Malfoy and supported by Voldemort. They were strangers, in hiding, with nowhere to go. No friends, no family. All they had were each other.

She had heard about rebels, but Bones hadn't found them. Or trusted anyone enough to meet up with them. Who knew who was friend or foe here?

But still, something had to be done. If they did manage to kill Harry Potter, she could perhaps convince them to go somewhere. Another country. A new chance of life, with revenge from their dimension completed.

"Take me to him," she commanded at last.

-o-

They found him in Muggle London. Bones didn't have to look hard. Harry Potter was hard to miss. Dishevelled, hair longer than she had ever known him to have, and looking more in his thirties, but the scar was there, and the eyes were the same and…

And he was looking straight at her. His eyes widened, and he fled. Bones felt a flutter of hope. Had his trip to this dimension made him more nervous? Why else would he flee?

They moved after him, crossing streets and alleys as they tailed him. He seemed alone, in somewhat tattered robes. Had she been wrong about him being the Nightmare Lord? Or was he the Nightmare Lord, but not as strong as she had feared? Perhaps he had taken the title from someone else, a dark lord in this dimension's history, in an attempt to make himself even scarier.

"Be ready to Apparate as soon as you have him," she ordered everyone. "Spread out!"

The bustling city life was replaced by calmer streets. Emptier streets.

"Move in!" she yelled as Potter turned to look behind him. "Make sure he can't run!"

Spells flew, in all colours. Their names were called out, but she couldn't hear them; her heart was pounding, her blood rushing. Adrenaline was pumping.

One spell looped his arm off. Another broke his leg. Blood sprayed down onto the ground, and as soon as he was grabbed, he was Apparated.

She saw people on the roofs, saw them with wands in their hands and yelled:

"Apparate!"

She disappeared before anyone on top of the roofs even made it down to the street.

-o-

Elise took the severed arm and looked at Rabastan.

"And this is why I hate when master plays the bait," she told him.

"Ah. So, how often does he lose a limb or two when he does things like this?"

"Every. Single. Time."

"And when we find him, he laughs," Lucian added. "For being so concerned when others are kidnapped, master is rather bad at putting himself in our shoes when he gets taken from us."

"Alright… so who's up for chaining him to the bed until he learns his lesson?" Rabastan asked.

Everyone put up a hand.

 _Just how often have you done this shit, Harrison?_

-o-

Harrison licked the blood off his lips as the bleeding of his stump was stopped, and thought:

 _Well, shit…_

 _To be continued_ …

* * *

Such a short chapter after such a long time? I suck!

Anyway…

Chapter eight: So, how will Harrison deal with this mess?

See you later,

Tiro


	8. Chapter 8

**Fractured Time**

 **Summary** : Continuation of Birth of a Nightmare Man chapter thirteen, where we left Rabastan and Draco wondering about Harry Potter's fate. But now time has become a strange thing, and their world is dying. How can they escape? Will they ever see Harry Potter again?

 **Pairing/s** : None.

 **Warnings** : Time-travelling and dimension-travelling, some violence and gore. People acting OOC.

 **Disclaimers** : I don't own Harry Potter nor do I make any money on fanfiction.

 _NOTE: Do not re-upload on sites as goodreads or Wattpad, or any other site for that matter. I do not give permission to do so._

-o-

Writer's block is hell, but I swore to myself I'm getting this, and the latest chapter of _The Nightmare Man's Journey_ out before Christmas. Enjoy!

 _Fractured Time_ takes place around five years before _The Nightmare Man's Journey._

-o-

 **Chapter Eight**

Harrison had stopped counting his stupid decisions a long time ago, but he was sure Elise kept a tally of it somewhere. It had to be an alarmingly large amount of times he'd done something stupid. This one… well, it wasn't as stupid as letting himself be caught by the Wizard's Council, but it was a near thing.

Of course Bones' group would take him away immediately. He just thought he would have a bit more time than that, so his servants and Rabastan caught one of the group members to find out where they were going.

Instead everyone in the group was there, and his servants and Rabastan was most likely clueless as to where he was. Great. Just great.

Elise wouldn't let him out of his bedroom for a year for doing this to her, and the others. Chains would most likely be involved. Some threats too. Possibly cutting off his arms and legs so he couldn't run. Never mind he would eventually grow new ones if the old ones weren't attached back to his body; she'd chop those off too. Rabastan, the traitor, would definitely help her. He'd be laughing his head off too while doing it. Why? Because he was a traitor, that's why.

Back to the situation at hand; why must he be so incredibly stupid? Isn't he supposed to be the feared Nightmare Lord? The one who slaughtered whole villages, and laughed at people's despair? The one who got caught by the Wizard's Council because of reasons, haha, so funny. The one that now got caught at the hands of literal children in his eyes. There had to be some talent involved at this point. Talent of stupidity.

Harrison tested the chains, but they remained tight around his legs, chest and remaining arm. Where the hell had they even found magic-suppressing chains?! This sucked. This was the worst.

And also, probably because everything else sucked, his nose was itching. Maybe because of the punch he'd been given. He crossed his eyes to try and look at it. Was it broken? Would it, in that case, heal broken and he had to re-break it? Out of all the things he had broken, he had probably never broken his nose. Or had he broken his nose? Better ask Elise; she probably kept a record of everything that has happened to his body as well.

Why would she do that? Well, because she liked to point out how many things he did to worry them, and do that thing with tapping her foot and putting her hands on her hips, staring down her nose at him. As if he was the child, and had done something naughty.

He should really stop indulging her in those moments, but Harrison had a hard time doing that, because it showed how much she cared about him and ugh, _feelings_.

"Are you even listening?!"

"No," he replied, and was promptly punched again. "Bit violent, wouldn't you say?"

"As if you have any right to talk!"

He didn't recognize most people in the room. Only Bones was familiar. She was quiet, barely looking at him. Was she tired? She looked tired. He wondered if she would still look tired when he wrenched her arms off.

When, not if. He refused to think if. He was going to get out of these chains, and he was going to fucking pull Bones' arms off. It would make him feel better about this whole fiasco. Because of this, Elise would have even stronger arguments next time he wanted to play bait. Fuck.

"Are all the wards set up?" someone asked.

"Yeah, but still… we should get another place ready."

"Find another place as well," Bones said. "Ward it as well as this one. Someone will try and find him. You saw it; he wasn't alone."

"Good eyes," Harrison replied to her. "And you probably should find another place. Elise gets awfully angry when I do stupid things, and she tends to take that out on others. Possibly by ripping them in two. Or kicking them to death with her spiky shoes."

They flinched and by the gods, did he love that reaction. He grinned, and someone kicked him in the face. His lip split and he laughed, blood dripping down his face.

"You're very bendy," he told the man who had kicked him, and received another one, this time to the stomach. "Ooh, you want to torture me? Go ahead. Do it. Kick me to death! Rip me to shreds!"

"Don't!"

Bones got up.

"He's just trying to provoke you," she continued. "Don't fall for it. Potter… you've turned even crueller now."

"Oh, you noticed? I would applaud you but then again, I'm missing an arm and the other one is chained. Unchain me, and I might find a way to applaud you, just for fun."

Or rip her arms off. Perhaps rip her arms off and clap her hands together, as she lay dying from blood loss? How would that work though? He still only had one arm.

"Why are you doing this?" Bones said. "You just keep hurting people! Back then, and now… you haven't changed. You haven't repented. You're just…"

"Just what? A monster? A murderer? Both those titles would fit me quite well. I got good at killing, and it was fun. So I just continued. Not known for doing much else than that."

"Why?"

"I just told you; I got good at killing, so I just continued doing that."

"But why?"

"Asking again won't give you a different answer," Harrison said. "Gods know so many have tried in the past. Why, why, why, _why_? They love to ask that question. It's like simple words won't register in their tiny, little minds. So I'll spell it out just once more, for you, Minister; I like killing people. So I kill them."

Her face twisted and he loved that too. He loved that reaction so much a shiver went through his body and the laughter bubbled up before he even noticed it. He threw his head back and kept on laughing even as the others began shouting at him.

A spell hit him with so much force the chair was pushed back, the legs lifted and he fell to the floor. The spell itself was tearing at his flesh, making his body twitch and flail as much as it could while still bound and he laughed through the pain, arching into it.

He just had to endure. Enduring was easy; the pain was constant, but he knew it would be over eventually. If his heart happened to stop and he let his body fail with it, the pain would stop all together.

Harrison's heart didn't stop, but the spell did and he lay panting on the floor, grinning. The chair was righted, and he let his head hang for a moment. Blood seeped through his clothing.

"Don't let him manipulate you!" he heard Bones yell at someone. "He was anticipating that attack and you walked right into it!"

"He doesn't deserve to live! Let's just kill him and leave his corpse to be found by those he was with!"

That wouldn't be too bad, actually. But that meant he wouldn't get to kill them, which was bad. Because he really wanted to kill them.

"And then what?" Bones said. "We'll be hunted."

"No, we won't, minister, he can't be that important!"

Oh, if only they knew… but glancing up between the strands of hair hanging in front of his eyes, Harrison saw on Bones' face she might suspect he was kind of important in this world. Had she figured out he was the Nightmare Lord? Or did she at least suspect it? After all, what he had done as the Nightmare Lord was just a worse version of what he did in their original dimension.

Had no one else from her little group figured it out? He felt it should be fairly easy. Or did they think he was still young?

"Do you want to chance it?" Bones said. "We need to stop for a moment, and think. We need an escape route. To another country, where his people can't get to us."

Borders had never bothered his servants. Never bothered him either. Harrison did try to respect that nowadays, but it still happened from time to time. He always made sure to be discreet when killing or taking from another country, but seeing as he didn't want to be discreet when killing Bones' group he should probably kill them sooner than later. So he shouldn't let them escape the country.

"We can kill him first!"

"If they find us too quickly, we need him alive."

"Minister, they won't find us!"

Harrison relaxed for a bit as people argued back and forth. His body was repairing itself. The chains that were suppressing his magic didn't seem to work on whatever made his body regenerate, just like the chains he'd worn in his prison. Well, those kept him alive, but a fair bit weakened.

These ones didn't feel as sturdy, especially not after the spell that had his entire body flail around so violently. So maybe he could get out? No, better not expect he could get loose on his own. Still, Harrison flexed his arm every now and then, trying to see if the chains were weakening.

"Take him to the other room," Bones finally said. "We'll work on our escape route."

He let them think he was unconscious, and they gripped him hard enough to leave bruises. Well, those would heal quite quickly so he didn't bother getting angry about it.

Someone wrenched his head up by his hair, and Harrison kept his eyes closed. Blood still leaked out of his nose, and he resisted the urge to lick it off his lips.

"Why are you so scared of him, Minister?"

"I don't think he came here just a few years ago," Bones replied. "You've heard them too, all of you. The rumours about this strange, dark lord…"

"There's no way that's real. That's just fake."

"And how do any of us know that? Even so, just five years ago this lord wrecked havoc on the Ministry. Helped killed Dumbledore, sided with Voldemort. If Potter was that lord…"

"There's no way!" someone else repeated. "Minister, you worry too much. Potter can't do anything politically; he's not suited for it!"

What did killing have to do with politics? Harrison wondered if they were right in their heads.

Whoever held his head up tugged harder, perhaps to see if he would react. Harrison didn't, and they let go of his hair. Two people grabbed the chair he was chained to, and dragged him to the other room. They threw him to the floor, one of them kicking him, before slamming the door shut and locking it.

Harrison opened his eyes.

It was kind of annoying lying on the floor while chained to a chair, but he couldn't do much about it right now. He flexed his arm again, and a thrill worked its way down his spine when the chains gave way a little bit.

So maybe he could get out on his own. Good. Elise and the others were probably looking all over for him, but it would be nice if he didn't need their assistance to remove some bloody chains. He had already experienced that once, and while Christian probably didn't remember that part, Harrison very much did. Granted, they were strong chains but it had still been pretty embarrassing.

For now though, he continued flexing his arm, and strained his legs. He just hoped the chair wouldn't break, because that would pretty much leave him stranded until help arrived. Considering the nosebleed was still going strong, and he felt the metallic tang of blood in his mouth, said help would see him in a sorry state and be even angrier about the whole ordeal. And yes, he knew the help would be Elise at the very least.

She could never keep herself away when he was injured, nor could she ever pass up an opportunity to tell him what an idiot he was.

-o-

Elise was not pleased. Anyone who saw her could see it clear as day. No, she was in fact furious. Harrison's arm was laid out on a table, not the dining room table, thank Merlin, and Rabastan kept twitching every time said arm twitched.

"Why does it keep doing that now again?" he asked her.

"There's still magic in it," Elise replied. "I put some more in, so hopefully we can just attach it back to master's body and it'll heal right back on."

"That's kind of weird."

But then again, that was how Rabastan met him in this world, putting his own arm back to his own stump. How Harrison's body was functioning was something Rabastan didn't even begin to understand, so he left it at that and focused more on the map Elise had spread out.

"Master's magic has gone away so we can't sense it, meaning he's behind wards that prevent us from noticing him," she said. "But there are quite a few places we can check out for warded areas."

The other servants were nodding. Draco was in the back along with Harry. The children were asleep, once they were assured by Lucian that Harrison would return home soon. Considering how easily they accepted that, Harrison disappearing on them must be pretty frequent.

That or they had simply stopped freaking out whenever he didn't come home when he should. Rabastan wondered if that was good for kids to react in that manner. But then again, they were being raised by Harrison, a dark lord who had terrorized people for centuries so he should be glad they weren't being murderous little bastards.

Also, they had Harry, who was perhaps one of the most normal people in the entire manor. The twins were alright, but they were pranksters at heart. Severus appeared to be one of their baby-sitters, and was like a teacher to them, but he also seemed to be more murderous in this dimension. Probably because of Harrison.

"But not all of us can leave," Elise continued. "Even if the manor is warded, I don't like leaving the children alone."

"I'll stay," Harry said.

"Me too," Draco continued.

"You just don't want to Apparate everywhere," Rabastan told him.

"I'll let you do all the work," Draco replied.

"Alright, so Harry and special Draco are staying behind," Elise said.

For some reason, the servants sometimes called them that, at least the older ones did. Special Rabastan and special Draco. Or master's friend Rabastan and master's friend Draco. They couldn't just call them by their names, they had to add something.

"The Dementors will remain nearby," Elise said, "so there shouldn't be a need for you two to go outside. Master installed a group of Inferi close by too, and they are alerted if someone breaks through the wards. All you have to do is stay up until someone returns."

"Sounds easy enough," Draco said as he looked at the map. "You lot are the ones who are going to have more trouble."

Elise tapped her finger against each location she seemed to know had abandoned places or was just a good place to remain out of sight from Muggles and magical people alike. Rabastan wondered if it was a hobby of hers, just going out to check out where people could hide and also put up wards without any trouble. Harrison had mentioned during one of their many conversations that she liked wards. And by liking wards, he added that she liked breaking them down.

They divided into pairs to check each location Elise had marked on the map. Rabastan would go with her. They each got their map, with the locations they were going to check marked with a small, glowing light.

Everyone had several places to look at, but was instructed to return to the manor if they didn't find Harrison.

"This will take some time," Elise told Rabastan. "We'll work though the night."

"I can handle that," he replied. "If I at some point find out that I can't, I'll let you know."

"Good."

Rabastan could see why everyone in the household looked for Elise for information or confirmation of something. She was an organizer and the leader in Harrison's absence. One would say she was quite different from him, and in a way she was, but in another way she was very much like her master. Perhaps a tad sadistic, but certainly as violent as Harrison could become.

"Let's move out."

"Good luck," Harry told them. "When you find him, whichever of you do, yell at him."

"I'll do more than yell," Elise promised as she stuffed the cut-off arm into an ever-expanding pouch.

"Elise, if you're the one to find him… just don't rip off the other arm before he can kill the rest of that group," Harry said. "If he doesn't get to kill at least a couple of them, he'll be moping and I can't handle him moping."

"You mean he'll be like a grumpy child," Ywgraine said. "It's kind of cute."

"I dare you to say that to his face," Joanne told her.

"Deal."

They shook hands, and Rabastan rolled his eyes. Harrison's ridiculousness had rubbed off on them too.

-o-

Harrison wasn't sure how much time had passed, but he was thirsty and the light outside the windows had changed. He was also very bored. No one had even come in to check on him!

But that meant he could work on the chains in peace. They were brittle compared to the ones that held him in that cell. No, not just brittle; completely useless. They were already giving way. So they hadn't gotten a very good quality on their magic-suppressing chains; Harrison hoped they had to pay a fortune for it anyway. Financial ruin before literal ruin and death; lovely.

He heard murmurs of voices of course. People walking around. They were restless, and angry, and without hope. Bones kept talking about leaving the country, starting a new life somewhere else. She had the right idea, and if they had done that from the start, Harrison probably wouldn't have bothered with them.

But they had to keep making trouble, and kidnapping Harry. So they wouldn't get away even if they managed to flee. However, Harrison vowed to not let them escape for very long, or very far. He wanted them to feel like he was just a step behind them, and that they would be afraid. So very afraid.

He didn't feel like playing with them though. He wanted them dead. In utter despair, and then dead. Should he kill them with magic, or do it manually? But for choking, he'd need his arm back. Or well, he could do it one-armed, but two arms were better than one.

Did he want to choke them to death? Or did he want to rip them open, let their organs fall out of their bodies, and as they writhed on the ground he'd lift their heart and crush it in his hand? Second option was very tempting. It was a well-used option too. It was the fear in their eyes that made Harrison come back to that manner of killing. The absolute, sheer terror as they saw their own heart pumping wildly in his hand.

Yes, he'd do that to Bones at least. The others could be killed in any other way, but he wanted to hold her heart in his hand and let her see her death coming. Well, after ripping her arms off first.

The chains snapped. Harrison pulled back the magic that was on the verge to rush out, and looked up at the door. The voices didn't stop talking. Someone scraped a chair across the floor, apparently then sitting down on it. Someone complained about their hunger. No one had noticed.

He carefully moved away from the chair and stood up, making sure his movements were soundless. So it had been a really bad quality on the chains, if they didn't even hold a full day. No matter, it just meant he didn't have to get rescued from the chains at the very least.

Harrison moved to the window, crouched down and considered his options for a few moments. His arm hadn't started to re-grow yet; if his servants had the part that was severed, it would be easily reattached. Either way, it left him with one arm for now.

Well, one arm and two legs. He was good at kicking people. With magic, he could infuse his entire leg with power and make sure he broke bones. So he had that going for him. Of course he could use spells too, he didn't need two arms to use spells, but he wanted to kill Bones without using spells. Well, one spell to cut her up, since he didn't have a knife on him at the moment. Or, he could conjure up a knife and slice her open with it.

As for the rest… he could kill them with spells, although it wouldn't be as fun.

Harrison glanced at the door. He could just kick the door open, and take it from there. But occasionally, not very often, he actually got the idea to wait and plan a little bit.

He also could get out of the window and break through the wards if they prevented him from leaving. Get back to the manor, reattach his arm and regroup. Perhaps some would consider that to be the cowardly way, but Harrison didn't mind that. At one point he did, but running away was perfectly alright for him now.

But no, he wasn't going to run away this time. He wanted it to be over with. Bones' group was annoying, and if left alone after this they might actually get in contact with the rebels. That would just cause more problems in the future. Harrison enjoyed some good chaos, but wasn't feeling inclined to have the rebels know about his past and create chaos based on that.

So, not running. He moved closer to the door and listened.

"Minister Bones, really, what should we do with him?"

"We're going to kill him, of course, why are you even asking her what we _should_ do?"

"But, he didn't seem that worried…"

"Who cares? Once he's dead, we can figure things out!"

Bones was being awfully quiet. But for real, they were still arguing about killing him, or keeping him alive? How boring. He'd rather listen to the one complaining they were hungry.

"But the Ministry here… and You-Know-Who is alive as well. Even Hogwarts is under their control!"

"I heard about rebels."

Oh no, not good.

"There are loads of them, still," the same voice continued, excited. "You-Know-Who and Malfoy are busy dealing with them most of the time. We'll get in contact with them after killing Potter!"

Well, that wasn't happening. Alright, he had stepped back and thought about it all for a bit; should he kick the door open and take it from there now?

Before he could go through with that plan, he felt the wards shudder. People were getting out of their seats, running to the windows. Harrison looked out as well; the wards were visible in the air, most likely by the numerous cracks appearing in them. Someone was coming in, and that someone was not happy.

Which meant it was Elise and she was pissed off it took her this long to find where Harrison was kept. He grinned.

The wards broke apart with a loud crack, so loud it made Harrison's ears pop, and immediately something exploded outside the house. He heard Elise shout. Alright, so she was pissed at the group, and also at him. He supposed he deserved her anger for being snatched away just like she had feared.

People began to shout, and Harrison stood up. He let the magic loose; let it strengthen the muscles and bones in his legs before walking over the door. He kicked it down. A bit dramatic, yes, but he liked drama sometimes.

The wood splintered, and spells were coming for him. Harrison shifted, throwing his hand to the side and his own magic tore through the air. The spells were pulled aside and the wall exploded as the spells hit. Flames began to lick at the old wood as he stepped through to the room.

People were already fleeing.

"Weren't you going to kill me?" he yelled at them. "Come on now, don't be shy! Do your worst. I dare you!"

Elise was screaming outside, and then Rabastan's voice came through:

"Fire! Elise, the fire, don't go… oh, of course you go through the fire! You're as crazy as your master!"

Harrison used magic to blow out another wall, and jumped down instead of using the stairs.

"You fucking idiot!" Rabastan roared at him.

What, he had strengthened his bones and muscles! Oh yeah, Rabastan didn't know that. Instead of shouting that to Rabastan, he decided to get to the point instead:

"Kill them!"

He grabbed the nearest person that was trying to run away and pulled, ripping off the arm. Blood sprayed onto his face. It wasn't Bones, but it was pretty satisfying nonetheless. Next he got to see Elise land a kick on a woman. The squelch and the woman's scream, then blood flooding out of her mouth, told him Elise was indeed wearing her spiky shoes.

But some were running… away from the house. Towards a point where they could Apparate. Harrison's focus zeroed in on Bones, who was one of them. He was hit by a spell that made pain rip across his back, dig into his spine, and he lost balance for a moment. But he still had time to throw his magic out, have it attach to Bones like a beacon, or more like a tight leash, just before she Apparated.

Then he turned and dug into the stomach of the man who had fired the previous spell at him. It was one of them who insisted he wasn't the Nightmare Lord. Harrison grinned.

"Hi," he said brightly. "I'm the Nightmare Lord! Now, I'm holding onto something slippery, do you feel that?"

He squeezed and the man screamed.

"Oh, you felt that. Good. Now, I can be _really_ nice and break your neck so you die instantly… or I can be really mean and keep you alive until I've ripped you to shreds. Which one do you think I will do today?"

"You're… monster! Monster!"

"That's getting repetitive. It's an overused word. I don't like it anymore. Come up with something better, yeah? I'll make sure to do enough evil stuff to you that you'll be encouraged to come up with a better insult towards me."

Spells were flying all around him, and smoke was filling the air but Harrison's focus had shifted from Bones to the man, and he turned his hand sharp, like a claw, and began ripping the stomach open. The blood gurgled up from the wound and started spilling down the sides. The man was writhing on the ground, trying to pull Harrison's arm out, yelling at him.

But once Harrison was determined to dig through someone's stomach, not much could stop him from doing just that. The man screamed suddenly in pain, words cutting out, and Harrison laughed.

The spells died out and the smoke cleared. All too soon, the man stopped fighting. His arms fell back to the ground, and the eyes became glassy. His mouth stopped moving, and he hadn't found one good insult. Harrison was very disappointed.

"Master."

Harrison didn't answer.

"Master," Elise's voice came again. "Master, he's dead."

"He died so quickly," Harrison said. "He didn't even insult me in a creative manner."

"How dare he not do that," she said.

"Are you trying to cheer me up?"

"Maybe? I have your arm, master."

"Oh, you do? Why yes, look, it's wriggling and everything… creepy."

Elise rolled her eyes and pulled his stump up so she could forcefully push the arm against it. Magic latched on onto both ends, and Harrison winced as it burned. But it didn't take long before Elise let go and while he couldn't move the arm very well, it didn't fall off at the very least.

Rabastan grabbed him from behind, under his arms, and pulled him up away from the man's corpse.

"He was so boring, Rabastan," Harrison complained. "I told him to come up with something else to insult me with, but he just kept saying monster over and over again…"

"Yes, yes, I know, so disappointing," Rabastan said. "Does he always sulk when people don't get creative with him?"

"Like a child," Elise said. "Complete with temper tantrums and throwing things."

"You keep putting out vases that I get to throw," Harrison said.

"It's either that, or you throw something I actually care about," Elise replied. "Master, I will yell at you later but right now there is a more pressing matter. Some of the group managed to escape."

He finally took a look around. Out of the group that had survived until today, half of them lay dead on the ground around them. Bones and a few others managed to escape. Would they escape together? Or would they scatter?

Oh, well… better start with what he could do.

"What should we do about that?" Elise continued.

"Don't worry, Elise," he said. "I put a leash on Bones."

"Should we regroup?" Rabastan said. "Get some more people?"

"No," Harrison said. "Why let them think they're safe? No, we're going hunting."

"Good thing I brought my spiky shoes," Elise said, quite chipper.

"Yes, good girl. Maybe I'll even find another ward for you to break down. Was it fun breaking down this one?"

"A bit. It wasn't very good though."

"Such a shame. You should tell them that before you kill them."

It was stretched out, but he could feel it; the magic attached to Bones told Harrison exactly where she was. He grabbed Elise and Rabastan, and said:

"Hold on."

He then Apparated after Bones.

 _To be continued…_

* * *

The climax is imminent!

Chapter nine: Time to hunt. Will Harrison catch Bones and what's left of her group?

See you later,

Tiro


	9. Chapter 9

**Fractured Time**

 **Summary** : Continuation of Birth of a Nightmare Man chapter thirteen, where we left Rabastan and Draco wondering about Harry Potter's fate. But now time has become a strange thing, and their world is dying. How can they escape? Will they ever see Harry Potter again?

 **Pairing/s** : None.

 **Warnings** : Time-travelling and dimension-travelling, some violence and gore. People acting OOC.

 **Disclaimers** : I don't own Harry Potter nor do I make any money on fanfiction.

 _NOTE: Do not re-upload on sites as goodreads or Wattpad, or any other site for that matter. I do not give permission to do so._

-o-

What, earlier than two months since the last chapter? What has happened?

What happened, I think, is that I managed to beat inspiration into staying with me for a bit, and I am overjoyed for that.

Enjoy reading!

 _Fractured Time_ takes place around five years before _The Nightmare Man's Journey._

-o-

 **Chapter Nine**

Draco was not pacing. He was _not_. He was just… checking the hallway. A few times. Alright, a couple of times.

…

Fine, he was pacing. He was pacing as hell. Fred and George had returned first, with no sign of Harrison. Joanne and Ywgraine followed, then Christian and Severus until all of the servants were back with the exception of Elise and Rabastan.

Severus was making a potion aggressively, while Fred and George took out their restless energy on playing dare with one of the trees outside. Draco had thrown open the outer doors so he could hear Apparating, but so far the only thing he heard was the twins shouting and the swishing sounds of a tree's branches moving through the air as it tried to do… well, what? Would it try to eat the servants?

Draco finally couldn't take it anymore and screamed at them to get their asses inside. Fred and George scampered inside and called to him:

"If you say so, mummy!"

"Go to bed!" he yelled.

"Yes, mummy!"

He sent a hex after them and continued pacing. Lucian came out of one of the rooms and said:

"It won't actually help, the walking thing."

"I know, but I'm still doing it," Draco said. "Do you think they found him?"

"Yes," Lucian said. "Elise is very good at finding master."

"How come no one found him when he was in the prison?" Draco wondered.

"He had ordered us to remain inside," Lucian replied. "Back then, his temperament was not something to take lightly. We never really disobeyed, because he could get… very angry at us for it."

Draco had understood it to a point. That once upon a time in this dimension, not only had Harrison been horrible to his enemies, he hadn't been too kind to his servants either.

"But if he disappears like that again, will you heed his orders?"

"Today? No. We would look for him. I dare say he would even expect us to."

"He better expect it."

Draco put away his wand, after noticing how hard he was clenching it. It wasn't like he felt sending a hex or spell at Lucian, because Lucian wasn't as annoying as Fred and George. In fact, Lucian was never annoying. Bloodthirsty perhaps, but his temperament was a lot calmer than Harrison's.

"Shall we go and sit down for a while?" Lucian suggested.

"Yeah, might as well. Harrison would be annoyed if I wore out the flooring in a straight line."

"Who knows, it might give him something to do to pass the time. Master does get bored easily."

Draco would rather not test it out, due to Harrison's conflicting tempers. Now, he didn't fear for himself, but he did fear a fair bit what Harrison would do to himself. No, it was better to sit him down before some wood-carving if he got bored; even without the bloodshed, he would still be allowed to stab things.

-o-

Harrison came to a stop, breathing in. Rabastan staggered a bit, and Elise said:

"There's nothing here."

"She's still moving," Harrison said. "Quite far."

"Out of the country?" Elise asked.

"No. Towards the coast though."

"You think she'll make a run for another country?" Rabastan wondered.

"They talked about another house," Harrison said. "They would ward it, and possibly move me. Didn't have time to do that, obviously, but… they might be heading there."

"Let's go then," Rabastan said.

Harrison gripped their arms tighter, his reattached arm gaining some feeling back, and moved once more.

Bones was moving erratically though. Maybe she was going to make a break for it. Getting out of the country may be her idea of escaping him, but Harrison would chase her down. He hadn't killed people in another country for some time, but it should be fine.

And if it wasn't… well, he didn't really consider that his problem. He would probably do it quickly then.

But no, she was slowing down. He stopped for a moment and closed his eyes. Bones didn't move in a way that indicated she knew he was holding onto her via a magical leash. He hadn't heard of it before, so he wasn't sure if it could be felt.

"Master?"

"She's slowing down," Harrison said. "Must be going to that other house."

"Is it warded?"

He was just about to answer, when Bones' magical signature cut off. He opened his eyes.

"She just stepped through the wards," he said.

"Do you know where it is?" Rabastan asked.

"The general direction," Harrison said, "not the exact location. Once we get there, we should be looking for a house, unless the ward hides the house as well. If it does, we're looking for wards."

"Meaning I'm looking for wards," Elise said. "Master isn't careful around wards, he just tears them down and alerts everyone something's up."

"Yes, with 'we' I actually meant Elise," Harrison told Rabastan. "She gets cranky if I touch wards without her permission."

"Cranky, temper tantrums… aren't you two supposed to be some of the oldest magical people still existing? You sound like toddlers."

"Aren't old people supposed to revert back to childhood once they're old enough?" Harrison said. "I'd say we classify as old enough."

Rabastan just shook his head.

"I am not a toddler," Elise said. "Now get us there, master."

"Alright, alright…"

-o-

General direction was right, because they pretty much didn't see anything at all that could look like a house. Still, all three of them crouched down immediately upon arriving, and Harrison sighed.

"This is boring now," he said. "Not much of a chase, really. Sorry for the disappointment, Rabastan."

"I'm fine with them dead, no matter how boring it was to find them," Rabastan reassured.

"You are really a kind-hearted friend. Elise, did you hear that? He's not even angry!"

"Well, he's not old and acting like a toddler," Elise said and pushed Harrison. "I still have to yell at you later."

"I won't remember that," Harrison said. "Rabastan, will you remember that?"

"Oh, yes, I will."

"Damn."

"Are you perhaps suffering from selective memory, because sometimes it seems you forget stuff you simply don't want to remember?" Rabastan said.

"I have both," Harrison said. "Bad memory _and_ selective memory. It's a talent. Now, are we spreading out or are we staying in one spot?"

"Stay," Elise said. "I'll search for wards."

She moved out and Harrison sat down on the ground to wait. Rabastan did the same after a while, because hey, he wasn't young anymore; he had achy knees and staying crouched down was something he could do for hours, but if it could be avoided then he would avoid it.

He wondered when they would be done. Early morning maybe? Then he wondered if someone had spoken to Voldemort about this. Rabastan hadn't stopped to think about it. Then he came to think about Harrison's looks.

"Are you going to remain in glamour until they're dead or what?"

"Huh?" Harrison looked down at himself. "Oh, I'd completely forgotten about that."

He shook his entire body, and the glamour slid off him. Rabastan looked, and wondered if Bones, or anyone else left of her group, would even know who it was.

Elise darted back to their field of view, shook her head and moved on. So she hadn't found any wards so far.

"Still can't feel Bones?" Rabastan whispered.

"No. She's hiding."

"No houses?"

"It's too dark," Harrison said. "Lucian has better night-vision than me."

"Guess we'll just wait then."

Which was boring. Harrison was right, it was not much of a hunt, but Rabastan could deal with it if it meant Bones and her group would finally be gone after this.

Elise came back and crouched down.

"Half a mile this way," she said and pointed. "The wards hide the house, but it's similar to the wards that you were kept inside of, master."

"Oh good," Harrison said. "Dismantle it as gently as you can."

"You don't want them to notice?" Elise said.

"Well, if they notice it you can tear the rest down, but if they don't… we get to surprise them."

-o-

Bones watched the barricaded door as the survivors paced around. She didn't feel her legs, and her fingers were going numb as well. She still had blood on her clothes where someone's entrails had ended up before she Apparated.

She had never felt so meaningless in her entire life. In their old world, she had been a fighter. She fought against Voldemort, became Minister after the war, and fought Dumbledore due to his decision to imprison a teenager who had freed them from Voldemort.

Perhaps she shouldn't have fought that fight. Perhaps so many things had been different, had Harry Potter remained in Azkaban. Or maybe not in Azkaban, but somewhere else. Still imprisoned, but more comfortable.

But she helped get him out, and things could've been solved if… if George Weasley hadn't died. So many factors played into what Potter became, but he also chose an active role of destructor and murderer. He didn't regret it. Instead he vanished from their world, unknowingly crippling it forever.

And here, in this new world that Potter had ended up in? Bones, and her group, hadn't succeeded in doing anything. They hadn't changed a single thing since coming to this world. All that had happened was them dying off one by one.

This country was not for them. This country had not seen Voldemort defeated. Instead, this country had had both the Ministry and Hogwarts fall to enemy hands, and started to adapt after five years.

Sure, there were rebels but Bones had seen people around Lucius Malfoy. They genuinely respected him as a Minister. She had seen Voldemort, in full health and not the creature he had become in their world. This Voldemort was saner, and not as bloodthirsty. His Death Eaters didn't rob or plunder or kill. They were more like part of the Aurors.

Then there was Harry Potter, of course. Or rather, Harrison. She was certain he was the Nightmare Lord. She was still finding it hard to believe the Nightmare Lord was as old as Lucius Malfoy and Voldemort claimed, but she shouldn't be surprised by anything surrounding her world's Harry Potter anymore.

Like he wrecked havoc in their world, he had done the same in this one.

Bones put her head in her hands. This was the end. They would be hunted throughout England. They couldn't stay. The others was rattled enough to listen to her. Maybe. She wasn't sure. They seemed to think killing their world's Harry Potter would sort everything.

They seemed to think people wanted her as Minister. Bones wasn't even sure this world's Amelia Bones was alive.

"We have to do something!" someone finally hissed.

"You saw them! They didn't care, they just killed! That bastard Lestrange was with them too."

Rabastan Lestrange. She wasn't surprised. His first priority coming to this world had probably been finding Harrison.

"We have to leave," she said.

"Minister!"

"I'm not the Minister," she said and slowly rose up. "And we have to flee the country if we wish to live."

"But they've killed…"

"They'll kill us too," she interrupted. "I should've made you leave as soon as we came. As soon as we realized how different this world is. I'm sorry. I failed you."

"We can't leave the community in the hands of Voldemort!"

"He has ruled for five years," Bones said. "His people are everywhere. We don't stand a chance."

She prepared herself for the arguments. She prepared herself to plead with them, perhaps even on her knees. To flee. To leave and never look back.

-o-

Elise worked quickly for someone who was doing it gently. Her explanation was that the wards were not that powerful.

"I could tear it down in moments, if I got a few minutes to prepare," she said to Rabastan. "Dismantling it is a different thing, and I'm adding my own wards."

"Why?"

"So they can't run away."

"You don't feel like chasing them any longer than this?"

"Master may say this is boring, but he won't have the patience for it either," Elise said.

Said master was yawning and inspecting his nails on his reattached arm, slowly moving the fingers. It was still looking a bit stiff, but it had been a hasty job putting it back on him. Or rather, had Harrison worked his magic too fast on reattaching it? Or did his body do that on its own?

"I should be done in fifteen minutes, master," Elise said. "Can you feel her magic yet?"

"Hmm?" Harrison turned his attention towards the wards. "Wait a minute… yeah, barely. It's twitchy."

"So she's nervous?" Rabastan said.

"Everyone in there is," Elise added. "They aren't focusing on the wards."

"They think they're safe," Harrison said. "One of them hasn't practised their Occlumency walls well enough, if I can slip in that easily."

"From here?" Rabastan said.

"Not too deep," Harrison said. "Surface thoughts. Enough to know they aren't expecting to be found. Good. That'll make our surprise even funnier."

"So what will you do?" Rabastan asked. "Blow up the door?"

"Oh, now that's an idea…"

-o-

The arguments and talking had actually led somewhere for once. The rest of the group didn't want to flee the country, but Bones had made them realize they had no other choice.

They had to run. They had to run now. No time to rest. She wanted to be in another country by dawn.

"Let's get ready," she said, rising up from the chair.

Something clicked into place around them, but she didn't have time to think about that, because the door exploded.

Wood splinters tore through their skins before they were thrown backwards. Bones slammed down on the floor; the others thudded against the wall. Part of the wall had been taken out around the door. The house creaked above them. Bones fought to get her breath back.

Something exploded above them. The crackling of fire began. Smoke gathered. Through the partially destroyed wall, where the door once stood, she saw someone walk closer. The robes were splattered with blood. She recognized them, but several things jumped out at once.

No wand.

Two arms, not just one.

A face she didn't know.

Eyes she definitely knew.

Had he been wearing a face they would recognize? Or was this a face he used to hide his real identity as formerly Harry Potter? Harrison stepped inside the house and used the arm he hadn't had last time she saw him to clear away some dust.

Harrison smiled, showing off bloodied teeth.

"Hello, Bones," he said. "Recognize me?"

"Your face…"

"Oh, I had to put some glamour on. Otherwise you'd never wise up and recognize me. I managed to look like that young Potter you hunted, didn't I? For me, I'd almost forgotten what he looked like."

This was his real face?

"You…"

"I've changed, haven't I?" he said. "Time does that. I don't know why I don't look more like Harry Potter, but at this point, I don't care. I look pretty, and that's good enough."

"How did you…?" They were supposed to be hidden!

"Oh, I put a leash on you. If that was what you were wondering about. Naughty of you to hide behind wards."

"How…?"

"Elise is very good at breaking wards. It's a hobby of hers. The stronger the wards are, the happier she is. She had to dismantle this one, so at least it was more of a challenge than the other one."

The killing spell came through the smoke towards him, from someone in her group. He ducked, and Bones moved. There was no point in escaping, she knew that, but the fight was still in her blood. She was a fighter. A survivor perhaps, nowadays, and her body wouldn't lay still and just take it.

Another killing spell was sent at Harrison, and this time it hit him, slamming his body to the floor. She was halfway through a window at that point, and only glanced back for a moment. His fingers twitched.

The killing spell was absolute. It was the end. Of course it didn't work on him. Bones started to run from the house. She wasn't alone, everyone was running with her. They would come with her, she knew that.

They had options. There had to be somewhere in this whole world where they could flee and be left alone.

Bones slammed into an invisible wall. A ward, much stronger than the one her group had put up.

"Like I said, it's a hobby of Elise's to break wards, but in order to be able to break them… she has to know how to make them."

Bones turned around. Harrison smiled again at her.

"Her wards are pretty damn good," he continued. "So good I let her do them around my home. You see, I'm not as patient as she is. But then again… you probably already know that."

Harry Potter had always been a bit reckless. As he was now, as this Harrison, he seemed to have no regards to the state of his body. He just continued.

"Stay away!" One of her men raised his wand. "Freak!"

"That was Uncle's word for me," Harrison said. "I don't like it. Use another one, and it better not be monster. That's unoriginal."

"Abomination!"

"Oh, that's quite a good one," he said to the woman who shouted it. "Did you hear that one, Elise?"

"You've been called that before!"

A woman walked up to Harrison, apparently the one who had called out to him. So she was Elise, the one to break their wards and put up new ones in… in what, matter of minutes? Could she really be that good? As she came closer, Bones recognized her from when they took Harrison.

"Have I?" Harrison said. "When?"

"1599," Elise promptly replied.

"How do you remember stuff like that? I don't even know what I did three years ago."

"Old man." Rabastan came up to him.

"Rude," Harrison said. "True, but rude."

"Hey, that almost rhymes."

"Thymes," Elise added, and Rabastan burst out laughing.

"Don't you start, you two," Harrison complained. "Come on, we've got people to kill! Look, they're just standing there!"

"I could make them run in circles?" Elise said, holding up her wand.

"Leave the Bones one to me."

"Which one is that?"

"That one," Harrison said and pointed at Bones.

"Understood."

"I'll just follow Elise then."

Elise grinned and darted forward. An explosion, a spell Bones didn't recognize, separated her from the others. Elise herded the rest of the group away from Bones like it was nothing, and Rabastan followed while Harrison walked closer.

There was really no point in even fighting. No point at all. But Bones still raised her wand.

"You should've run when you arrived to this dimension," Harrison said. "Don't you agree?"

"A bit too late for that," Bones said. "But if it's the time to say what we should've done, then I should never have allowed you out of Azkaban."

"That's true. Your life would've been a hell of a lot easier if I was stuck there. But I don't die, and the Dementors were loyal to me. Eventually, they would've let me out."

"They never should've killed George Weasley," she said.

"That is more correct than letting me stay in Azkaban. But seeing as this dimension is the birthplace of Dementors, and they simply came through a crack of time and space to the one we were born in… then it was always meant to happen."

Bones breathed in. He wasn't wrong, but she hated him anyway for it. How could the universe be so cruel to let that chain of events occur?

"Isn't that just depressing?" Harrison asked. "I've come to terms with it. But I don't think you'll manage, considering you won't live for much longer."

"You're certain of that?"

"I know that, Bones. Because I'm going to kill you now."

"You're very calm for such an ancient murderer."

"Thank you. It comes with time, I suppose. I've had a lot of time to calm down."

He came towards her. Bones managed to cast two cutting curses before he reached her. The wounds didn't seem to register. Just as he grabbed her by the throat, Bones let the hatred fill her, and with her wand pressed against his chest, she said:

" _Crucio_."

He didn't scream, but he fell backwards, back bending with the pain. His entire body was shuddering and twitching, his teeth clenched and eyes rolling. She wouldn't be able to hold the curse long enough to render him permanently insane.

"Break the wards!" she yelled. "Someone, break the wards!"

"Oh, no… they _won't_."

Harrison rolled over to his stomach, and still under the curse's influence, got up. His eyes shone bright green, his lips stretched into a pained grin.

He broke free, and tackled her to the ground.

-o-

Harrison hadn't expected the Cruciatus curse. Didn't know Bones could cast it, but then again, surely she hated him enough to make a decent try.

Once he had her on the ground, he contemplated ripping her arms off first, but that was boring. He could do that later. He just wrenched the wand away from her, and settled on the lower part of her stomach. He would take his time with her.

Bones howled as he split her chest open. Harrison grinned, and cracked her ribcage. The howl turned to a shriek and she got her arms free, pulling at his arms and when he didn't relent, she tried to reach for his neck. Her nails scratched at the exposed skin.

Pieces of ribs were thrown away, and soon enough her organs were exposed.

"You'll have to put in a bit more effort if you want me to stop," Harrison informed her.

She fumbled for her wand, and found it just within reach. But the spells wouldn't come. She tried several times, voice merely a whisper, and sometimes a light would form at the tip of the wand before sputtering and disappearing in the air.

"Not very impressive, Bones," he told her, and she sobbed.

She dropped the wand, and started to slip away. Harrison wouldn't have that. He found a part that reignited the pain in her body, and she flinched, eyes wide. He began to dig in, and every time she seemed to start to go, he would pull on a nerve, just enough to bring her back.

"Let me go," she eventually moaned.

"Hmm, let's see…" he started, and then moved his head to avoid a spell.

The man who fired the spell cursed, then his eyes widened and he turned to run. Elise, cackling, ran past Harrison, shoes covered in gore and her hands no better. She seemed to be taking her time with what little remained of Bones' group.

"I don't think so," he said at last. "Not yet. I've hardly tortured any of you lot. So I'm making up for it, with you."

"Just… why? _Why_?"

"Why not? I'm afraid logical answers are not something you can expect from me."

-o-

Bones thought she knew pain. Now she realized while she certainly knew mental pain, she had no idea about the physical pain of slowly being ripped apart.

Harrison's arms were covered in her blood, and he kept digging. Kept pulling on nerves that made her shriek and had her entire body tremble with white-hot, searing pain. She had tried to do spells, but her magic wouldn't respond. She tried to reach his neck, but her arms just couldn't reach.

As he was busy holding up one of her kidneys, Bones felt around. Her wand was at her side. _Useless_. She found a few stones, but what good would they do? He'd only laugh at her if she threw a stone in his face.

 _The dagger!_ Bones knew a lot of witches and wizards didn't carry around weapons. Why should they, when they had their wands? But she had taken the habit to carry a dagger. He didn't seem to care that she was digging into a deep pocket of her robe.

When she stabbed him in the stomach, he did stop and looked down. Then he turned his eyes to her, and _fucking laughed_. Bones gritted her teeth, and stabbed him again, higher up. He responded by throwing her kidney to the side and pulling at one of her lungs.

After the fourth stab, he started to tell her where she should stab him next. Bones had never felt her blood that hot, rushing through her veins, pulsating around her temples. He was _infuriating_.

"Go on," he said at last, blood dripping out of his mouth as she had finally stabbed him through the lung. "Go for the heart, Bones. Go for it. I _dare_ you."

"You like pain?" she asked.

"It's a welcome distraction at times."

"Distraction… for what?"

"Life," Harrison said. "You don't need this lung, do you?"

He ripped it out and Bones felt it, she felt how she couldn't really take a deep breath and her body began moving. She knew she was panicking, her flight response was kicking in, and Harrison was laughing even harder at that.

It was quiet around them. Were the others dead? Bones tried to look around, but saw no one moving. Just smoke from the destroyed house. Then a voice!

But no, it was Rabastan. Elise's answered.

"Master, are you done?" Elise called out a moment later.

"Almost," Harrison called back. "She's getting boring. She won't even stab me in the heart!"

"She stabbed you?" Elise sounded alarmed.

"It's fine, I can barely feel it," he replied.

And that was just it; even if he would feel it, he wouldn't die from it. Not for long. Harry Potter from her world had become Harrison, the Nightmare Lord in this world. He had roamed the lands for hundreds of years, a plague upon the people.

Bones let go of the dagger and her arm fell back. Her body was getting numb. Harrison looked down at her. He tilted his head, like a curious animal.

"Yeah, you're boring me now," he said. "I don't even feel like torturing you anymore. But first…"

He grabbed her arm with one hand, placed his other hand on her shoulder, and pulled. Her arm was wrenched out of its socket, but he kept pulling. Bones screamed as he ripped the arm off. When he moved to the other arm, having thrown the first one to the side, Bones turned her face away from it. The pain was worse, but she refused to look at it.

Then, smeared with blood, his hands grabbed her head. She didn't want to look. But she felt she had to. Bones met his eyes, and stared at him, lips quivering.

"Goodbye," he said, and broke her neck.

-o-

Harrison sat back and looked at Bones. There was a bit of satisfaction in seeing her dead, but mostly he felt tired and wanted to have a bath.

So he got up and pulled the dagger out, letting it drop into the cavity of her body now that he had pulled most of her organs out.

"You've killed the rest, yeah?" he asked Elise.

"They weren't very challenging," Elise said.

"You've got holes in your robes," Rabastan added.

"Stab holes," Harrison said. "She had a dagger on her. Stung a little, that's all."

"If you like, master, you and Rabastan can return home while I clear up the locations."

"I think I'll do that," Harrison said and stretched. "I need a bath."

"Just a question," Rabastan said. "Just how many robes do you destroy a month?"

"Rude."

"No, I really wanna know because you keep getting them fucked up."

"It varies," Elise said as she dragged a body towards the pile of bodies she had already started on. "A bad month, he can destroy up to twenty sets. That's why master normally wears quite simple and plain robes; he's only allowed to wear the fancy ones for special occasions."

"I don't even like the fancy ones," Harrison said. "They're too tight."

"They are very flattering on him," Elise told Rabastan. "But master cares little for that."

"Fancy ones, ey?" Rabastan said. "Interesting."

"Why is that?" Harrison wanted to know.

"Nothing. Let's go back home."

Harrison glanced at him, but Rabastan didn't elaborate so Harrison let it go.

"We'll be going back first then," he told Elise. "What are you doing with the body parts?"

"Feeding the trees, and hand some out to the Inferi," she said.

"Fair enough. Sorry I tossed the organs everywhere. And the arms. Where did Bones' second arm go?"

"I'll find it."

Harrison nodded and prepared to Apparate.

"Right then," he said to Rabastan. "Let's go home."

Rabastan nodded, and Harrison started off. He couldn't Apparate straight back to his manor, it was too far of a journey, but he made it in two trips. Rabastan wasn't next to him when Harrison Apparated in through the wards, but he supposed Rabastan had to make it in more than two trips.

Sure enough, half a minute passed before Rabastan joined.

"You didn't go inside?"

"Well, I thought I'd be nice and wait," Harrison said.

"It's not me who's worried about you, you know."

The doors opened, and Lucian came out, quickly followed by the children.

"Isn't it like in the middle of the night?" Harrison wondered. "Or at least early morning?"

"Come on, don't be too harsh on them," Rabastan said. "They're only kids, and their guardian didn't return home on time."

"You're back!" Lucy shouted, but stopped before she could clamp her arms around his waist. "Ew, you're covered in blood again!"

"Most of it isn't mine!" Harrison defended.

"Isn't that supposed to be worse?" Lucy asked.

"I'm not injured?"

"Oh. So it's better, than the blood being yours."

Merlin help if Lucy turned out to be just a little bit like Harrison when she grew up…

"He needs a bath, squirt," Rabastan told her, and Angel.

Angel pouted, and then she yawned.

"You two, why don't you go nap in my bed while I have my bath?" Harrison said. "Then you get to know how it feels to be woken up when you're nice and cosy! Little devils."

Lucian grabbed Angel before she could grab onto Harrison anyway, and Joanne and Ywgraine ushered Harrison into the manor. The servants were all gathered, and Harrison's robe went flying. Louis caught it in the air and said:

"Cleaning or throwing away?"

"Soak it in cold water for now!" Joanne called back. "Elise can see if it can be salvaged."

"Not my shirt, surely?" Rabastan heard Harrison protest.

"You've got blood all over it, master?"

"Yes, I know, but no need to strip me!"

"Oh, are you feeling shy, master?"

"You two are impossible."

The shirt was off, caught by a confused Christian, and the two women dragged Harrison through the bedroom door. Lucian planted Angel on Harrison's bed, Lucy climbing up on it while Harrison was pushed into the bathroom. A few moments later, he threw Ywgraine and Joanne out.

"I know how to clean myself!" he yelled through the door.

"Aaw, we didn't get to strip him," Joanne said.

"Master is rather adorable with that shyness sometimes," Ywgraine said.

Rabastan wasn't going to touch that. The two women disappeared out the room once they got the rest of the clothes and Harrison's boots, to see if they would be saved; apparently Louis and Christian proved themselves to be really good at getting the gore off shoes, while Elise and Lucian were experts with the clothing.

"Practice makes perfect," was Lucian's only comment.

Rabastan offered to find Harrison some clothes. He should really get Harrison some sleeping clothes, but dove into the wardrobe to find what Elise had dubbed, fancy clothing.

When he did find it, he was impressed because yeah, it was fancy alright. Silver sown into the fabrics, gems attached. Sharp cuts to create what he could only assume were a dashing look. Modern, yet with a hint of the past.

"We do love seeing him wear that."

Lucian looked at Rabastan before taking out one outfit.

"Master thinks he doesn't look good in them," Lucian admitted. "We've gotten him to wear some, more fine robes but in the beginning, he just wore black. Easy robes… boring ones."

"From what I remember," Rabastan said, "he never really had clothes of his own as a child. He only got the hands-me-downs from his cousin. I don't think he started wearing his own clothes until he was an adult, and at that point, I don't think he care what he wore."

Lucian hummed, and then hung up one of the fancier robes near the exit of the wardrobe.

"Maybe we can lure him to wear this later," he said. "When we celebrate the end of that annoying group. If he protests, we'll say Angel loves the gems. She does love them, and he has a tendency to give in when the girls are concerned."

"So, when he's unreasonable, bully him into thinking about the children?"

"… More or less."

"Noted," Rabastan said. "How about some sleeping clothes, then? I do think he'll want a nap."

"He had healed wounds on his chest," Lucian said as they picked out the clothes. "Stab wounds."

"Bones had a dagger. Harrison was not very impressed. He complained she wouldn't even stab him in the heart, so I can't imagine he felt scared by her."

"That does sound like master. Any other injuries?"

"No. His arm reattached just fine, he had a bloody nose but nothing broken. He was mostly annoyed at the group, actually."

"Lucian, Uncle Harrison's yelling about something!" Lucy called.

Apparently he was done, and he wasn't coming out naked. Lucian opened the door a bit and pushed the clothes in. when Harrison came out two minutes later, hair sopping wet, Lucian sighed and said:

"Towel, master."

Harrison let Lucian dry the hair as he picked at his nails.

"All gore gone?" Lucy asked. "You never learn, Uncle Harrison."

"Maybe I want it all over me," Harrison said.

"That's just yucky."

"Yucky," Angel repeated, and then plopped herself in Harrison's lap, snuggling closer.

Harrison froze for a moment, and then relaxed, carefully patting her head. Angel was nodding off quickly, and Lucy pushed and prodded at Harrison, but soon enough her blinks grew heavy and she kept leaning onto his shoulder.

Lucian put her properly onto the bed, same with Angel, and then wanted to see Harrison's reattached arm.

"Sometimes a nerve or two doesn't connect," Lucian explained to Rabastan. "Then we have to do it all over again."

"It feels fine," Harrison said.

"It takes less than thirty seconds to diagnose it, master, and then you can sleep."

Lucian's grip was firm, but gentle. Harrison watched the children struggle to stay awake, and then said to Rabastan:

"You should go to bed too. You've been up looking for me, and then fighting."

"I hardly had to lift a finger," Rabastan said. "Felt like Elise and you needed to work out some of the aggression."

"Smart man," Lucian muttered. "Arm's fine. Sleep now, master."

"I don't sleep on command."

"Well, you should."

"Rude."

"Is that a new, favourite word of yours?" Rabastan asked. "You keep saying it."

"It perfectly conveys my feelings, and it sounds funny."

Harrison flopped down on the bed, and pulled the blankets up over him. He was asleep within the minute, Lucy snuggled up his back and Angel's face tucked against his shoulder.

"Rude," Lucian told the sleeping man.

Then he made sure the blankets properly covered Harrison, because apparently he just couldn't help himself.

Rabastan just shook his head and left the room, stretching out as he walked towards his room.

"What a day," he said. "What a day…"

 _To be continued…_

* * *

Just one more chapter to go!

Chapter ten: Aftermath, and a routine comes out of all the chaos.

See you later,

Tiro


	10. Chapter 10

**Fractured Time**

 **Summary** : Continuation of Birth of a Nightmare Man chapter thirteen, where we left Rabastan and Draco wondering about Harry Potter's fate. But now time has become a strange thing, and their world is dying. How can they escape? Will they ever see Harry Potter again?

 **Pairing/s** : None.

 **Warnings** : Time-travelling and dimension-travelling, some violence and gore. People acting OOC.

 **Disclaimers** : I don't own Harry Potter nor do I make any money on fanfiction.

 _NOTE: Do not re-upload on sites as goodreads or Wattpad, or any other site for that matter. I do not give permission to do so._

-o-

The end is here! It took a fair bit of time to get it completed, but I enjoyed the journey nonetheless. I hope you did too.

 _Fractured Time_ takes place around five years before _The Nightmare Man's Journey._

-o-

 **Chapter Ten**

The morning brought the yelling. Epic yelling. Harry brought the girls outside before Elise could even start, leaving Harrison at said woman's mercy. Elise was nearly vibrating, waiting for the slamming of the doors, before she turned to Harrison, eyes blazing.

There was a lot of pointing, and gesturing, and near-stomping. Harrison watched her, wide-eyed, and the few times he tried to speak, Elise looked so livid he closed his mouth again. For Rabastan, it was pretty entertaining to watch.

She brought up many good points too, due to him ending up hurt pretty much every time he played bait. A torn-off arm was apparently quite mild compared to other injuries he suffered. While being quite blunt, and more than a bit rude to Harrison, Elise was right in many aspects.

Harrison took it rather well, all things considered. Or at least that was what Rabastan assumed, until Harrison said:

"But it worked."

"It doesn't matter if it worked or not!" Elise exploded. "You always get in trouble when you play bait!"

"How else would we have sorted it then? Playing bait is a bit risky, yes, but usually the fastest method of solving the problem of finding someone."

"Your arm got chopped off!"

"Well, it would've grown out eventually, but you saved it! Look, here it is!" He flapped it in her general direction. "Besides, it's not that bad, it was just an arm."

Elise's fingers twitched, and so did her eyes. Rabastan realized this was going to take a while, so he decided to go and get breakfast. He could hear them yelling at each other the entire way down to the dining area, where Lucian was. As the voices rose even further, Lucian turned his eyes skyward and sighed.

"By that, I assume they do this every time something happens?" Rabastan wondered.

"Almost every time. Well, not before. We didn't yell at him before."

"Tongue?" Rabastan remembered vaguely from all of the conversations he had had with Harrison. "He removed them?"

"Only when we were really annoying."

"I'm guessing his version of annoying varied from day to day?"

"Yes. We didn't talk much back then."

Something crashed.

"Vase," Lucian identified. "Elise keeps putting them up everywhere, so master has something to destroy."

"How many has she bought?"

"I think she just keeps buying new ones every week," Lucian said. "Or possibly stealing them. I haven't asked where they came from."

Another vase crashed, this time it had to be against a wall or something. The yelling increased. Elise screaming about she didn't want to see him hurt, and he was a fucking idiot. Harrison yelling right back he didn't want to see _them_ hurt, and he was a born idiot, so there was no cure there.

"He's just making things worse for himself," Rabastan said.

"Master has a talent for that, unfortunately."

"And you've had to deal with that for how many years?"

"I try not to think about it," Lucian admitted.

The yelling ended quite abruptly, apparently Elise no longer had any qualms about shutting Harrison up if she was irritated enough, and she came stomping down the stairs alone.

"Has master seen reason?" Lucian asked.

"Maybe," she replied.

"So why isn't he with you?" Rabastan wondered.

"Because I chained him to the bed," Elise said. "Just for a while."

Well, that was one way to keep Harrison at home.

-o-

Harry came back inside with Angel and Lucy; they had had breakfast outside with Ywgraine and Severus. Once Angel saw Elise, she said she wanted to see Harrison.

"He's in time-out," Elise said. "You can see him later."

Angel frowned and turned to Lucy.

"Don't look at me, Uncle Harrison's more in time-out than we are," Lucy said.

Rabastan wasn't surprised he was. Draco, having arrived just after the yelling stopped, snorted at that.

"Can I make a potion if we can't see Uncle Harrison?" Lucy continued.

"Did Severus say that was okay?" Elise wondered.

"Yes, of course he did."

"How much did you nag at him?"

"Only a little bit," Lucy said. "Besides, he won't let me do Draught of Living Death no matter how much I complain."

"Why, of all potions, would you want to make that one?" Elise asked. "It's advanced level."

"It sounds interesting. Anyway, Severus says I won't get to do that one until I know potions. So he'll teach me something simpler this time."

"Keep Angel away from the fumes," was Elise's only warning before Severus came inside to bring the girls to the potions lab.

"Why are you even trying to save that robe?" Harry asked.

Elise was currently looking over Harrison's robe, now washed, and said:

"The cuts in the fabric aren't that severe. Master can wear it in the dungeons."

"Hasn't he got an apron or something down there?" Rabastan asked. "He tends to get messy."

"He doesn't have the patience for that, most of the time."

"Figures."

"So everyone's dead now?" Harry wondered as he sat down. "From that group?"

"Dead, and consumed," Elise confirmed. "I've let Voldemort know about it. He'll be relieved to not have to think about that anymore."

"He still got the rebels to think about," Harry said.

"He always has something to think about with his position, which is why master isn't big on politics."

"Because he doesn't like to think?" Rabastan wondered.

"… More or less," Elise admitted.

"Yeah, he was never a big thinker," Rabastan said. "Well, I'm less of a thinker, but he made some pretty impulsive decisions even as a kid."

He had heard some of it from Harrison himself, and other times, from Draco. Snape had never spoken about Harrison in the company of another Death Eater, and Rabastan understood why later. Out of all of the good guys, Snape was the worst of them, and yet he was probably the one who wanted Harrison to live the most. Not that he'd ever admit it. Rabastan would bet money on Snape denying it until he was blue in the face, if Rabastan ever encountered him in the afterlife.

Because he wasn't getting younger, and he knew he didn't want to live as long as Harrison. Rabastan felt he had lived through enough for a lifetime, and he did want to see his brother from his dimension.

"I never really asked for details about your world," Harry said to Rabastan and Draco now. "Why were they so fanatical about killing Harrison?"

"Insanity I imagine," Draco said.

"With an unhealthy dose of idiocy," Rabastan added. "I mean, England was emptying. People fled from the country, Muggle and magical alike. Only those who wished to hide, and those too stupid to run, stayed."

"We wished to hide," Draco said. "So we lived amongst the cracks. Until we got the idea of trying to find where Harrison had gone."

"I mean, that was pretty idiotic of us," Rabastan said. "Crazy even. Can't believe any of us managed to talk Narcissa into trying it."

"She was tired of running," Draco said.

"Or possibly dusty houses."

"That too."

"Your father wasn't much better, though."

"No mattress was ever good enough for him," Draco said.

It still hurt to talk about Lucius and Narcissa from their dimension. Maybe that was why Rabastan tended to avoid it. But Draco had a small smile on his face and perhaps… perhaps it was good in a way, to talk about them.

To bring them back to life in conversations. Let Draco remember them, the Lucius and Narcissa that raised him from infancy.

"I think I know Lucius better than Draco in this dimension," Harry confessed. "I mean, I do meet him every now and then, but Lucius is here more often. It doesn't sound like they were too different from each other. But a Malfoy is a Malfoy, aren't they?"

"It certainly sounds like something father would agree on," Draco said. "Living in a fractured world put a strain on us all, but they did their best to keep their spirits up."

"I wondered what would have happened if Harrison hadn't come to this dimension," Harry said.

"I think it was meant to be," Rabastan replied. "Here, Dementors were created by Harrison. In our dimension, they came from nowhere, and shortly after he disappeared, they vanished into thin air. The cracks of time could lead to the same dimension. At least two led to this dimension, many led back to our own, just in a different time. So somehow they found him, their maker, before he was their maker."

"Time can be really fucked up sometimes," Draco concluded.

"I'm getting a headache," Harry confessed.

"Harrison would have smashed his head onto the table already," Rabastan said.

As one cue, Harrison could be heard yelling:

"Am I allowed out of bed yet?"

"No!" Elise screamed, then went back to muttering at Harrison's robes: "Honestly, he's just like a child sometimes…"

"I should go and save him from boredom," Rabastan said, getting up. "Who knows what he'll end up doing to himself."

"But he's chained up," Harry began.

"Has that stopped him before?"

"No," Elise answered for Harry. "If there's something master has mastered besides killing people, it's hurting himself because he's bored."

-o-

Rabastan sauntered into Harrison's room, and Harrison looked up.

"Thank god it's only you," Harrison said. "For a moment I thought I'd upset Elise again and she'd come up and start yelling…"

"What do you mean, again? She's still upset."

"Still?"

"Harrison, she yelled at you less than an hour ago!"

"Has it only been one hour?"

"Yes!"

"Oh god, kill me already."

"I mean, I could try but I don't think that would help in the long run."

"Right," Harrison said. "She'd keep me in bed for _weeks_. Yes, you're right, don't kill me."

But despite his complaining, Harrison looked entirely too comfortable being shackled to his own bed, which could only mean…

"Just how many times have you been so utterly stupid?" Rabastan wanted to know.

"I've lost count," Harrison replied. "Ask Elise, I bet she has a tally of it somewhere."

"How many times has she shackled you to the bed?"

"Dozens?" Harrison ventured. "Before I was captured by the Wizard's Council, she didn't quite dare to shackle me up. Nor really yell at me. She's yelled a lot at me these last five years."

"Maybe she's making up for lost time."

Harrison kicked his feet.

"This is boring," he said. "How am I supposed to entertain myself when I can't move my arms?"

"I think you're meant to reflect on your mistakes," Rabastan tried.

"Elise knows me better than to assume I ever reflect on my mistakes."

-o-

Apparently, Harrison being in time-out didn't stop the children from visiting in the end. Angel came first, bored with watching potion-making, and she decided to entertain Harrison by reading for him.

"No, that's the wrong bookshelf," Harrison told her when she moved to one bookshelf.

"How is it wrong?" Rabastan wondered, seated in one of the armchairs.

"I had to rearrange my books," Harrison said. "And add some. The right one, Angel, the 'little to no gore' bookshelf. That's it, good girl."

"What kind of books do you have?" Rabastan half-whispered at him while Angel was choosing between books.

"I don't like history books, they get too many things wrong," Harrison said. "I also don't like theory books, because that reminds me of Hermione and that makes me annoyed. Not really into potion books, I just like to wing it when I make potions… I actually have a lot of books that I don't really like."

"Are you a hoarder or something?"

"I do like to collect things," Harrison said. "I'm a collector! Of hopefully not boring things. What did you pick, you little devil?"

Angel held the book out proudly. Harrison squinted to read the title.

"Angel, dear… that might belong in the gore-bookshelf."

"Really?" she said, and opened it. "It's red. And sticky."

"Oh, that's blood. Yeah, it was put on the wrong bookshelf, hand it over to Rabastan and pick another one."

Angel dutifully did and the next one was a children's book, apparently. A brightly coloured one too. Rabastan had never seen a book like that.

"Muggle," Harrison explained. "Ywgraine and Joanne keep buying them. Some of them are really funny, actually."

Angel seated herself next to Harrison and began to read, and from the looks of it, completely unconcerned about the chains holding Harrison shackled to the bed. She had to be the calmest, most indifferent child Rabastan had ever met. At least when it came to weird and gory stuff.

Lucy barged in an hour later, a potion in her hand and a wide grin on her face.

"Elise said you could test it for me!" she greeted Harrison with.

"Is it poison?" Harrison asked.

"No."

"Shame. Give it here then."

He didn't even ask what it did. Angel moved aside for Lucy, who jumped on the bed and tipped the vial so Harrison could drink it. Considering it was only a first-year potion, if Severus held true to his word, then Rabastan supposed the effects couldn't be awful.

Harrison smacked his lips afterwards.

"Nasty taste," he commented. "What is it supposed to do?"

"Aren't you supposed to ask that before you drink it?" Lucy said.

"Lucy, I drink things like Basilisk venom without it killing me."

"You're so _weird_ , Uncle Harrison. Anyway, it's Cure for Boils."

"But I don't have any boils," Harrison said.

"Should I have given you a few?" Lucy tried. "There's still half of it left."

"How about you don't?" Lucian's voice came from the doorway.

He had stuck his head in, looking at Lucy.

"It's the cure; he'll have them for like seconds!" Lucy protested.

"No boils," Lucian said.

"Don't be so grumpy," Harrison said.

"Yeah, don't be so grumpy," Lucy added.

"Boils," Angel agreed.

" _No_ boils."

"Oh well, I tried," Harrison told Lucy. "Did Severus say it was correct?"

"Yes."

"Then I suppose it must be. Still nasty."

"All potions are more or less nasty," Rabastan said.

"Am I allowed out of this bed yet?" Harrison wanted to know.

"Have you reflected, master?"

"No."

"That was the whole point," Lucian said, moving into the room.

"I don't reflect on things," Harrison said. "I'm an idiot that's immortal, immortal idiots don't reflect."

"… I give up."

Lucian released him from the chains. Rabastan thought for a bit, and then said:

"It's like rewarding bad behaviour of a naughty child."

Lucian and Harrison both turned to look at him. Lucy, still holding her potion, said:

"Actually, that's kind of true. Uncle Harrison is in time-out a lot, but he's never really punished."

"I am the oldest person in this house," Harrison said.

"Yeah, and sometimes you're the silliest," Lucy replied.

"I mean, you're not wrong but… naughty child, Rabastan? Me? What have I ever done to you?"

"I can whip up a list if you want."

"No, don't! I don't want to be reminded of past mistakes. Or the time when I was a good person."

The word 'good' made him shudder.

"So weird," Lucy whispered to Rabastan.

"So very weird," Lucian agreed.

"Read for us," Angel demanded of Harrison, having retrieved another book.

It was a weird life. But Rabastan wouldn't trade it for the world.

-o-

A conversation came back to Rabastan when it was nearing October. The manor was quiet, everyone busy with their own thing. Draco was with Severus, spending a day in the potions lab. The servants were spread throughout the manor. Elise was fixing a crack in the ballroom ceiling, Fred and George helping her out since they were the cause of the crack.

Lucian was experimenting with a new recipe, hoping it wouldn't be too exotic for Harrison; when it was, he usually refused to eat. Christian was helping, mostly by keeping a watch over the meat in the oven.

Rabastan however, wasn't looking for any of them. Instead he searched for Harrison, finally finding him in a small sitting room. Angel was sleeping in his lap, her head resting against his shoulder. He himself was reading, and didn't even look up.

So Rabastan made himself on the armchair next to Harrison's, and said:

"Do you remember the conversation we had about having kids?"

Harrison looked up with a frown.

"The what?"

"Conversations, about kids."

"We haven't had one," Harrison said.

"We did. Back then."

"Did we?"

Oh yeah, Harrison had a hard time remembering everything from back when he was Harry Potter. Rabastan thought back.

"You had just killed that Longbottom boy and… what was her name? Lovegood?"

"Neville and Luna," Harrison said absently. "They weren't happy about it."

"I imagine they weren't."

"We talked about children after that?"

"Yeah. You said you probably didn't like kids much."

Harrison thought about it for a bit.

"It was true back then," he said at last. "And for a long time after that."

"What changed, then? Because you've got one drooling all over your shoulder right now."

"What, drool?" Harrison put away the book and wiped Angel's chin clean. "Children are leaky."

"In some aspects, sure. So what changed?"

"I… don't know. I never meant to take Angel with me, and Lucy was a survivor from a village I destroyed. I took her because they wanted to save her from me. After that, I supposed it just turned into me having two kids around and not killing them."

Harrison glanced down. Angel was still drooling.

"Even when they drool on my shoulder," he added.

"You're surprisingly good with them," Rabastan said.

"Am I?" Harrison replied. "I've been told I indulge and spoil them."

"You give them what they need."

"That's the weird part. But… listen, I don't know what I need. I've never really known it. By having them around though, I've calmed down a bit. Them, and Harry."

"He's still a child in your eyes?"

"Everyone under a certain age to me are children," Harrison said.

"You mean I'm still a child?" Rabastan asked.

"Yes."

"Fuck you, my knees ache in the morning."

"Fuck you back, my knees don't ache in the morning."

"That's it, isn't it? You're gonna look exactly like this when you finally drop dead, aren't you? Not a single wrinkle to be seen."

"Wrinkles are so not me."

Rabastan had a few wrinkles. He would only get more. Maybe it would make Harrison upset, but Harrison was old. He had lived such a long life without Rabastan, that he probably would survive Rabastan's death.

"… You do know I'm gonna die eventually?" Rabastan said.

Harrison shifted on Angel again, hugging her to his chest a bit.

"Yes," he finally said. "You don't want to live forever."

"Have you been reading my mind?"

"A little bit, maybe. Draco, too. He doesn't want to live forever."

"In the end, all he really had was his parents, and me. He lost them. Wherever they ended up, they will die too. So it's in death he will meet them the next time."

"I forced Elise and Lucian into sharing my fate," Harrison said. "Some of the other servants too. Christian didn't choose it. So I've learnt not to force people, mostly. I didn't force the founders. At times, I wish I had, but no one knows what immortality will do to a person."

"You feared they would turn out to be like you?"

"I suppose I did," Harrison confessed. "It'll hurt, seeing you die. But I'll survive it. Probably. Most likely."

"That doesn't sound very sure," Rabastan said.

"I'll live. I've done it before."

He would have no other choice. But he picked himself up after George's death, if only for revenge. He ended up in another dimension, all alone, and survived that. Not with all of his mind intact, but he was better these days. Elise and Lucian said so.

"Do you think you'll pick up anymore kids?" Rabastan asked.

"I bloody hope not. Angel's wailing when she was little was _exhausting_. I dread the teenage years."

"Didn't you get a little practice in with Harry?"

"He wasn't your average, brooding teenager," Harrison said. "He wasn't even as bad as I was… I think. I do think I was an angsty teenager. Was I?"

"You better ask Draco that, I didn't care for brooding boys-who-lived back then."

"Ugh, that title is awful."

"Don't all boys live?"

Angel's question made them both look down at her. She wiped her mouth and chin, and stared at Rabastan.

"Harrison was a special boy," Rabastan said. "He survived a very bad spell."

"Killing curse," Harrison supplied. "The green, lighty thingy."

"That one," Angel said.

"She's seen one?" Rabastan said.

"… Might have demonstrated it," Harrison said. At Rabastan's look, he continued, "At a chicken! I'm not a complete monster."

"You kinda are, though. Showing a killing curse to a child is something a monster would do."

"She was curious!"

"We had chicken for dinner," Angel supplied. "Dead chicken. It was yummy."

"See, she learnt how we got chickens. Or rather, that they used to be alive before they ended up in her stomach."

"… Please tell me your servants are handling most of the children's education."

-o-

The first Christmas in their new dimension, and Rabastan had gotten used to Fred and George wrecking havoc in the mornings. Christmas, it appeared, was not spared from their noisy personalities, and thus Rabastan was woken up to the sounds of fireworks.

Inside the house.

Elise's yelling started moments later. Rabastan dragged a pillow over his head; it was too early for this shit.

He was allowed one more hour of peace, before the noises got too much. Lucy and Angel raced past his door at least five times during that hour, doing their best to wake Harrison up, banging on his door and yelling through it when he wouldn't open said door. Rabastan growled before getting up, just giving himself enough time to change into the robes next to his bed before stalking over to Harrison's door. He didn't even knock; he just kicked it open and discovered Harrison holding a pillow over his head as well.

"Oh no," Rabastan said. "If I have to get up, _you_ have to get up. Children, door's open!"

Twin shrieks of delight, and Harrison popped his head up in alarm. Too late; Lucy threw Angel up in the air, and she landed with deadly accuracy right on Harrison's back. He went down with a painful grunt, holding a hand up even as Angel dug her sharp, little elbows into his side. Lucy howled and jumped up on the bed. Angel rolled away and Lucy pounced on Harrison.

"Rabastan, please, for the love of god, kill me!" Harrison begged.

"Wallow in your misery, old man," Rabastan said.

The children pounded him with questions while Rabastan went into Harrison's wardrobe and picked out his clothes. No plain, black robes today; no, today Rabastan wanted to see Harrison all dressed up.

He chose a black robe with slashes of dark green, some jewels sewn in to make the robe sparkle in the right light. Beneath that, black slacks and a green shirt with a black vest.

"Alright, you two, get off him," Rabastan said as he came back out. "You aren't even dressed."

"Do we have to get dressed?" Lucy said.

"If I have to dress up, you have to," Harrison hissed at her.

"Uncle Harrison, you've got loads of pretty clothes, why do you hate them?"

"They're constricting," Harrison said.

"You're wearing them, and that's final," Rabastan said.

"You aren't wearing fancy robes!"

"I don't intend to wear this," Rabastan said. "This was just so I could wake you up."

Harrison finally rolled out of bed, literally, and landed with a thump on the floor. He sat up.

"Was there fireworks earlier?" he wondered.

"Fred and George set them off," Lucy told him. "Elise wasn't happy; they broke one of her garlands."

"Hers?" Rabastan said. "She has special ones?"

"Yes," Harrison said as he got up. "Bone ones. Made out of her relatives."

"… Pardon me?"

"Yeah, I don't really get it either."

The children were sent to get ready, and Harrison was thrown into the bath, while Rabastan went to get ready for real. He wasn't sure what to expect from today. Was it easier to not expect anything, and roll with whatever happened? Fireworks indoors on Christmas seemed like a good indication that traditional things were not common.

First they had breakfast. Harrison ate sitting on top of the table like the crazy man he was. Lucy said:

"When do we get to open our presents?"

"No clue," Harrison said. "Maybe there aren't any."

"Uncle Harrison!" both she and Angel cried.

"Must you tease them so, master?" Elise wondered.

"It's funny," he defended himself with. "And it's not like they haven't been down and gotten their grubby hands on every gift that's under that stupid tree."

"We have not," Lucy protested.

"Oh, you haven't?"

"No, we haven't!"

"I smell lies," Harrison said and flicked a piece of toast at her.

Lucy, to her credit, caught it in her mouth and chewed on it angrily, glaring at Harrison.

"When do we get to open our presents?" she asked Elise, like she probably should have done from the start.

"Once you've eaten up," Elise replied. "All of it, with no complaints."

Angel, who had been looking at some greens with distaste, pinched her nose shut and ate it, mouth turned downwards. But she didn't complain. There were a few pieces she glared at, and Rabastan saw Lucian push his plate closer to hers. She unloaded what appeared to be her least favourites, and ate the rest with gusto.

Harrison had been given a much smaller portion, but he still needed more time than the children to finish it. Finally he put the plate down on the table, and then rolled off said table. He pulled the children up from their chairs, and said:

"How about everyone except for Angel and Lucy gets their presents?"

"No!" Angel said.

"No, we ate our food. Put us down! Uncle Harrison!"

"Are you sure you want to open gifts?"

"This is punishment for us jumping on your bed, isn't it?!"

"Not on my bed, you beast, on _me_. On my poor, old back!"

Lucy started kicking, but while Harrison didn't look particularly strong, he seemed to have a grip of iron. He just laughed at their struggles.

They were eventually let go, and the gifts were handed out to the right people. Piles of gifts gathered around them; with so many people living there, it was no wonder that the amount to each one was rather big. Even so, the children received much more.

Harry, Draco, and the twins were included there, because somehow they counted as children. Draco, in addition, had several packages from this dimension's Lucius and Narcissa.

Rabastan had never seen so much wrapping paper. The servants seemed content with waiting until all gifts were unwrapped before cleaning up and it wasn't so bad. It was just wrapping paper. Rabastan had seen what kind of messes they had had to clean up sometimes.

It was no wonder there were so few carpets in the manor, with the amount of blood and gore Harrison kept pulling in.

Speaking of Harrison, he seemed more intent of watching everyone opening their gifts than opening his own. Rabastan knew he hadn't received many during his youth, but surely he was used to it nowadays?

Angel got a stuffed, green dragon that was half her size, and she immediately ran up to Harrison, declaring him her favourite gift giver.

"I thought the pencils and book would be enough!" Ywgraine moaned.

"Don't even try," Joanne said, patting her arm. "Master is always Angel's favourite."

"You are smug," Rabastan informed Harrison. "You are smug because a five-year old says you're the best gift giver?"

"It's a victory I don't mind having."

"You're crazy."

"You know that already."

Rabastan smiled. He did know that. He settled back in his chair, just fine with watching the others now that his gifts were opened; mostly practical things like robes and a new pair of boots. Another orb that Rabastan supposed had a soothing aura, or something similar; he wouldn't say no to it, due to still waking up every now and then from dreams of his old life.

But right now, he didn't need it. Right now, he was perfectly fine within the chaos that was the Nightmare Lord's life. The room was warm and inviting, there was laughter everywhere, murmurs of voices and Draco was smiling. Harrison was smiling as Lucy showed off her new potions materials, blabbering about the next potion she wanted to try. Angel climbed into Harrison's lap and clung around his neck, and instead of stiffening, he softly patted her back.

Yeah… all was good this day. No fractured time to be seen, or ever to be seen again, because while Harrison was crazy, he surely wasn't _that_ crazy that he wanted to attempt it again.

-o-

The next day, Rabastan was woken up by Dementors breathing down on him because some things never changed.

"Harrison, you fucking idiot!"

Harrison's delighted laughter at the door had Rabastan grinning.

Not that it stopped him from chasing Harrison all over the manor. Couldn't let the old man think he was allowed to do whatever he wanted with them.

Even the children joined in on the hunt, and Rabastan let the twins (because yes, they were children even to Rabastan, ugh, he was getting old) tackle Harrison. Once he was down, Lucy and Angel jumped on him. Harry hesitated for a few moments before shrugging and joining them. Draco stood by Rabastan's side, helpfully telling them how to pin Harrison down.

"This is good," Draco said. "It's good, isn't it?"

Lucius and Narcissa from their dimension were lost to them. At least until they died and could reunite with them in the afterlife. Rabastan hoped that would happen.

But for now, and for the rest of their lives, they had their friend, and the life he had created in this dimension. A crazy life for sure, but one Rabastan didn't mind living.

"Yeah, it's good," he replied.

All was good.

 _The end_

* * *

We have finally reached the end! Thank you all for being patient with my writer's block, and I'll see you when I see you.

Tiro


End file.
